Heart of Darkness: the Forty-Fourth Hunger Games
by LadyCordeliaStuart
Summary: 44th Hunger Games. Yay. SYOT closed. Boo.
1. One Reapings

**I had these two a few days ago. I was just lazy.**

* * *

Attila Attard- 18

It's never enough. I pushed my skills to the limit to make the figurine I designed for Icarus' little sister. Making toys was just a hobby for me, but it brought me so much more joy than volunteering or whatever appearance or speech I was making to advance my father's political Career. I loved the honesty and joy children showed when they looked at my toys, and it was that honesty that let me know she was disappointed.

"It doesn't look like him," the little girl said. She held the toy away from her.

"I know. I did my best. I made it look like him on the inside. He was a warrior- that's why I did the armor," I said. "He might not have won, but he fought to bring us all glory and honor and he fought all the way to give you a better life."

The girl smiled and hugged the toy to her chest. "Yeah. I like him. Thanks," she said.

 _Never enough._ First it was too much, when I got stressed and overwhelmed from trying to be the perfect son and perfect example of a District One citizen. I ate until I was the laughingstock of the academy and they said I should be the target, not the student. I went from too much to not enough, starving myself so I could be thin. I wasted away until they almost kicked me out of the Academy. It was the hardest thing I ever did to get healthy again, but it still wasn't enough. I was the second place student. I wasn't good enough for the Games.

"Cute kid. Can I have a word with you?" Citraline broke in, sweeping into my storefront like a tornado. The girl took her doll and cleared out.

"We getting married or what? I'm not getting any younger," she said. She was eighteen, just like me, but she was also prone to hyperbole. And it _was_ something we'd discussed before.

"As soon as I have the money," I said.

Her face softened and she looked more like the girl I fell in love with. "I just... want him to ve there. I don't know how long we have," she said.

My father got paid a lot to be the mayor, but it was never enough. It wasn't enough to clear the cancer out of his body. Either I won the Games, or he would die. That was what drove me to shout my name before Titanium could and what gave me the strength to fight him off even though he outranked me. My little brother Hannibal started to wail, and that almost broke me. He'd already been through so much.

"It's going to be okay!" I yelled from the stage. "I'll be back. Don't worry! We'll all be happier. I promise."

* * *

Jayden Chadsey- 18

I was fifteen when I saw it happen. Karyssa Evans was blazing through the Arena. She killed half the Careers when the pack broke up. She'd killed four people since the Games began. There was no one who could stand in her way.

It all fell apart when the snake slithered next to her. I could only watch as a low-down, cheating snake stuck its fangs into her out of nowhere. She swatted it and screamed, but it was too late. Every Career dreaded poison. It was the lowest, most cowardly weapon of all, and we shunned it as a rule. Only a tiny portion of us ever used it, and those who did were always held in suspicion by their peers. Victory meant everything was forgiven, but death brought censure.

"Oh, no! Karyssa's in trouble now!" Polyphemus narrated. "That looks like a nasty bite!"

It _would_ be a snake that killed her. I'd seen Karyssa before, of course. She was three years ahead of me at the Academy. Once in a while she brought her cat Misa to class. More accurately, the outside of the school, since the little lady didn't like the noise and always ran right home. Karyssa loved all animals, even snakes. Well, screw snakes. Lowdown cheating bastards.

 _Come on Karyssa, it's just a snake,_ I urged her on. Her partner was already dead. She needed to bring this home for us. We hadn't had a Victor in far too long. Two was starting to make fun of us even more than usual. She had to get past this. She was strong. She could do it.

"She doesn't look good. Her face is a mess," Polyphemus said. Karyssa staggered among the rocks and fell on her front. Tears, blood and drool stained her face. A cannon ended all our hopes.

"Oh well. I thought she might do it. Turns out One was nothing but glam and glitz," Polyphemus said. The camera switched to the girl from Seven before Karyssa was even cold.

 _That's it? We fight like lions and as soon as we're dead you belittle us?_ Polyphemus was awful brave talking from his comfy chair. He'd sing a different tune in the Arena. He'd cry uncle after a single hour in the Academy.

 _Glam and glitz?_ Is that how he saw Estrella "the shooting star"? Hyden the Banshee? Peridot, who killed allies and enemies indiscriminately? Azure? Rhoda Hamilton the Belladonna? _They'll show you glam and glitz._ I'll _show you glam and glitz._

* * *

 **Attila is at** wwwDOTelisarolleDOTcom/romance/images/adamphebus5DOTjpg

Jayden is really muscular with green eyes, freckles, and strawberry blonde hair in a ponytail. goo .gl /images /k36eFr minus spaces

Shameless plug time! Be sure to check out IVolunteerasAuthor's story at ww /s/3300 823/1/The-K iridian-C hronicles-Raina

Also, I finally added my story to Fictionpress because Wattpad was merging all the words together. It's at ww npress s/33 00968/1/Others


	2. Two Reaping

Hero Nolan- 18

Life worked out perfectly when my parents named me. Maybe that was a little egotistical to think. I didn't mean it that I was this mythic hero with great deeds and the respect of nations. I just meant I _wanted_ to be a hero. That was why I started training in the first place. The volunteers were the greatest heroes of Two. They fought the Games so the weaker children were safe. And even though I'd never tell anyone, there was another reason I volunteered.

A lot of times, the volunteers from Two took things the wrong way. Instead of volunteering to keep other people safe and win, if they did, by fighting fair, they _enjoyed_ the fight. Like most people, I wanted to be the best, but I didn't want to do it unfairly. If there had to be a Games, I wanted to fight fair and never kill unnecessarily. In my heart of hearts, I volunteered just as much for the other Districts as for Two. There were a lot of Tributes from my home that I wasn't proud of. Some of us went farther than the Capitol ever intended. Some of us- like Pray- shouldn't have access to vulnerable kids.

"Why do you have to go? You didn't finish the story," Aurelia said. Along with my parents and my other sister, Eirian, she was here to see me off after I volunteered. Everything had gone off without a hitch, even though some Academy instructors thought I wasn't hard enough for the Arena.

"I'll be back in just a couple of weeks. It'll be a cliffhanger until then," I said. I'd been reading them a simplified version of _The Iliad,_ and they were still waiting for Achilles to finally get off his whiny butt and fight Hector.

"We already waited a week!" Eirian said. "Maybe Dad will read to us."

"He can't do the funny voices," I said. They'd refused to listen until I assigned each character a different voice, which was how Odysseus got a Capitol accent.

I was glad to see they weren't worried. They were too little to really understand the Games, especially since we were from Two. The Games were something we looked forward to here, not something to be terrified of. They had nothing to worry about, and I hoped they never volunteered. They were good little girls. It was okay for _me_ to risk my life, but I wanted them to stay safe.

My father took Eirian and Aurelia outside, leaving my mother to give me a few parting words. It took her a minute to find the courage.

"I know you want to do what's right, but I'm your mother and I worry about you. If you have to do something you're not proud of, sometimes that's just life. Don't throw your life away because of morals that belong in old books," she said.

I wished I could tell her I wouldn't. Instead, I told her the truth. "I'll do what I can. I have a good chance. Two has a lot of Victors. But if anything happens, make sure you have them close their eyes at the end."

* * *

Chrome Cabello- 18

My father lives for the Games. Every year is a parade of days leading up to the glorious weeks when he can sit in front of the television, screaming and cheering for whoever he chose as a favorite. He's not very good at picking. That makes life harder for the rest of us, since he tends to drink excessively and generally rampage through the house when he loses. We all wanted Ember to win, but it wasn't because she was from Two. It was just because _he_ wanted her to win. He was the only one actually saying anything while the family was gathered to say goodbye to me. As usual, I was listening quietly.

"This is the proudest moment of my life," my father said, slapping me on the back. "I always dreamed this day would come."

The second part of that statement wasn't for me. While steadfastly refusing to speak to the daughter he'd disowned, Dad still managed to attack Ullie. The idea- _his_ idea- had been for her to volunteer two years ago. Ullie was a stone cold fox. Not even Dad could tell her what to do. She found a ratty apartment across the District and was currently engaged to a fine young man. Dad had informed us we would not be attending the wedding. _He_ wouldn't, maybe. I could do whatever I wanted if I was the Victor. Otherwise, he'd be right. I wouldn't be attending.

"I'm sure you'll do great!" my mother said. Her voice squeaked with the emotion she was trying so hard to hide from her husband. She kept her face turned toward me so he couldn't see the fear in it or the tears in her eyes.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Why don't you and Jessie go watch for the train?" I asked. Neither my mother nor my little sister wanted to be here. Jessie trained at the Academy along with me, but she wasn't made for the Arena. She was a gentle, caring girl who just wanted to make her father happy. I knew if I didn't volunteer she'd do it to please him, which was the main reason I was waiting for the train. My father followed the two of them, since he hated my sister more than he loved me.

Ullie cut right to the chase. "Do this for you, not for him," she said. She took the rare opportunity to update me about her life, and I listened silently. There was a reason I was so quiet, and why I was seemed so unemotional. There were already plenty of words and feelings in my family.

* * *

Hero is... shoot, I'm too lazy to type this, so I'll paste it.

Hero is good looking, but in a nerdy, highly shy way if you know what I mean. He has dark brown curls that are kind of fluffy and frizzy because he runs his hands through his hair when he gets nervous, and dark blue eyes the color of sapphires. He's slightly under 6 feet, with an athletic, kind of willowy build. He has muscle, but not a crazy amount that it's disturbing to look at. He's just sort of all around athletic. Hero is the type of person whose eyes flicker back and forth when he gets nervous and he often has trouble making eye contact. He's Caucasian in race, appearing close to almost a German descent, with amazing bone structures. Dark lashes and brows that are slightly messy, as usual on a guy, and high cheek bones to die for covered with just a little bit of baby fat for roundness that he never grew out of. He looks really clean cut, or about as clean cut as you get when you're a Career.

It is important to note that I don't consider this a special snowflake description, since it's just an appearance. Those don't really matter and hardly even show up.

Chrome is a six foot tall Amazon. She has the expected Career physique, cool gray eyes, brown hair, high cheekbones, and tan skin.


	3. Three Reaping

**Shinju is... special, to say the least, so discretion is advised.**

* * *

Jack Balt- 17

There were a lot of ways to win the Games. Last year Blake won in the most common way: she was the strongest of the trained Tributes. She used a mix of strong allies, trickery, and just plain fighting skills in order to get out of the Arena. That was always going to be the most popular way, and we in Three didn't have much chance of that.

Other than training from birth, the most common way to win the Games was a combination of luck and basic ability. Most of the other Victors were in the right place at the right time and had the right skills for that moment. Most Tributes tried to play up the "intelligent" angle, whether or not they were. In that area, we had a monopoly.

Not that we actually _were_ the smartest. People just immediately assumed we were. They saw us get Reaped and straight away they thought we'd go into the Arena and make a nuclear bomb out of a couple of sticks. One would think they'd start to second-guess themselves when year after year passed and there were still only three Victors from Three. All of them _did_ win by being smart, but three Victors out of eighty-eight Tributes was not statistically significant. But then, the dead Tributes didn't count as people in the eyes of most of the audience.

Three was the "smart" District. Sure, a lot of us were smart, but we had just as many dumb bunnies as anywhere else. We didn't sit around all day discussing theoretical physics and teleporting things with our oversized brains. It wasn't some paradise here held together by genius inventions and pure brainpower. Most of us worked just as hard in jobs just as drudgerous as any other District. I, for example, worked in the cobalt mines. Most mines were in Two or Twelve, but only Three used cobalt in any volume. If we were really a valuable District, the Capitol would have sent that to us. We got it on our own, since the Capitol only cared about what we could make.

I was smart enough, but I didn't want that to be what made me stand out. I tried anything else I could think of- anything that would set me apart. I tried athletics, which was so underdeveloped in Three that I gave up. I tried art, which didn't work out very well. About the only thing I hadn't tried was comedy, because that was outside my ability. At least I had more muscles than the stereotypical Three nerd. Chunks of cobalt ore were heavy.

When the escort called my name, it proved we weren't anything special. They said we were smart, but we weren't smart enough to get out of being Reaped. They said we knew how to get out of anything. They couldn't have been more wrong. Every year, two of us got Reaped, and every year but three, both of us died.

* * *

Shinju Mashushita- 18

Vampires never die. They could keep killing people as long as they wanted. It wasn't fair so many people got to be alive when mine died and left me in loveless, dark orphanage. It wasn't fair that I wasn't smart like everyone else and that I got picked on and teased by everyone else. I wanted to make them pay, but it took me years to figure out how.

I finally found my answer in a dusty old book hidden in a box of District castoffs generously given to the orphanage when the library didn't want them any more. I saw a picture of a pale monster that looked so much like me. She was biting someone and there was blood everywhere. That was the moment I found what I always wanted to be.

The next night, I tasted blood for the first time. I'd cut my lip before in my life, but this was the first _real_ time. I found the thinnest patch of skin on my arm and pressed my teeth into it until they broke through and a tiny bit of blood seeped into my mouth. I let it sit on my tongue and I savored the taste, trying to remember everything I could about it. It was strong and thick and tasted coppery, like a battery. It was warm and it felt full of life. It was _my_ life, but I wanted someone else's. I wanted thus forever.

The book wasn't clear on how to become a vampire. There were all sorts of different vampires and each seemed to have gotten there a different way. Some came from ancient legends and might have been called demons where they came from. Others had some sort of plague, and I was less interested in those. They weren't as special. Others were cursed or committed some horrible sin. That was the one that caught my eye. Curses and demons were just stories, but sins I could do. I wondered how many it would take. Whatever the number, I would get there.

I started small with the others. A few weeks later, one of the other girls found a dead rat and dangled it in front of my face while I was in bed. I acted like I was just surprised when I lashed out and scratched her arm. They told the headmistress and I was sent to the detention room as punishment. As soon as I was alone, I licked the blood out from under my nails. The other girl tasted different than me. I wondered if we all tasted different.

It was night when I made my first kill. I'd been planning it for months. It had to be at night, because that was when vampires always killed. I wasn't one yet, but I wanted to be ready when I changed. I knew one of the other girls snuck out at night to be with one of the boys from the males' orphanage. I followed her out into the dark alleys that led to the other building and stuck a knife from the kitchen into the back of her head. It wasn't as quick as I was hoping for, but I didn't have to worry. People screamed in the night sometimes in alleys.

She lay dying as I licked her blood off my hands. I was glad I was quick enough to get it while she was still alive. I could taste the life in the blood. I'd hoped I might change right away, but it didn't happen. Other than my heart, my body was still warm. I'd have to kill more. Someday it would be enough.

* * *

 **Both Jack and Shinju have Asian features. Jack is more muscular and they're about the same height. Shinju is way creepier looking. From the description, I'd hazard a guess she looks like Sadako from The Ring.**

 **Maybe this will work?** **l adycordeliastuart-vani kia.c om**

 **So far, I have a page for Victors plus a page for Orchard and for Paul. I'm working on more now. I think everyone can add, since it's public, so everyone can go ahead and make pages for their characters or whatever else they want to.**


	4. Four Reaping

Eren Lindell- 18

There's nothing better than waking up on the beach. After a hard day of training, I loved to come out to the water with my friends and spend all evening surfing the waves and all night telling jokes and gossiping. The sand was soft and the ocean air was warm and salty. We didn't even need blankets, just a bonfire in a pit and a few drinks generously donated by our parents. Usually I woke up so early that the sun was still rising and turning the sky rainbow. Today it was already up, and I would still have been sleeping if Lexa wasn't yelling at me.

"Eren! Get up! It's time to volunteer!"

I flung myself up before she had an excuse to dump sand down my suit.

"It's okay, I'm up!" I said. Kaili and Porti were already up- Kaili squinting at the sun and Porti wringing her hands. Harrison sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"We're going to be late and you're supposed to volunteer," Porti said. "It's late and you're going to the Games." she kept up a running monologue of worries, and I felt the same way. I threw myself into action so I wouldn't show it.

"Your hair is a mess," I said, straightening Harrison's bedhead. I snuck last looks at my friends as I gathered my things and got ready. I burst into an old sea song as a cover-up.

" _The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound, and a wave broke over the railing_.. _."_ I realized too late that wasn't the best choice of tunes, but I pretended not to notice as I scoped out my friends. I wanted to remember every detail. I'd need them in the Arena. _Lexa has a crooked tooth. Porti's eyes are really more blue than green._

"You're still in your suit!" Porti gasped. I looked down at the tight surfing unitard and we all froze. I was going in front of all of Four practically naked. Then Harrison started to laugh and we all joined in.

"I'm sure it will _surf_ ice," I said to Portia. She was still nervous, and it was contagious. "They might _ding_ me points, though."

"Here, use this," Lexa said, handing me her jacket.

"Thanks," I said. We started for the Reaping Center, and I scrambled to think of something to talk about. "Hey, maybe when I get back, I'll start my own Academy. What should I call it?"

"Win or Wipeout," Harrison said.

"Hang Ten," Kaili joked darkly.

"Davy Jones' Locker," I said. We went on swapping names, each worse than the last. I was smiling and laughing so convincingly- I hoped- that none of them guessed how scared I was. My parents were good to me, and this was my duty to them, but if it was up to me, I'd spend all my life out there in the water growing smaller behind me. I looked back at the sea, then around at my friends, and thought of the next line of that ill-picked song.

 _Fellas, it's been good to know ya._

* * *

Tillian "Gator" Voyage- 15

Animals is better than people sometimes. The hisser that took my arm only did it because I started the fight. My old man did it just whenever he felt like it. You can see why I liked the company of hissers more. Pa got all sore at some lizard going after his own prey, and it was a hard fight keeping him from finding the poor gator and tearing it up. He told me I was soft and I would get myself killed, but I didn't care. I just got more careful emptying my traps.

The Peacekeepers said there was a maneater-sized gator getting pretty close to the village. They were all looking for it to get the bounty, but I was going to find it first. I knew gators better than anyone else. Some people even called me "Gator", and I went with it. Tillian was a stupid name anyway. I knew just what hissers like. They liked arm, but when they couldn't have that, they liked eggs. Eggs was soft and easy to eat and didn't run away. Even a gator big enough to eat a man would rather eat an egg. That was what I used to bait my trap, and when I bent close by the mesh to check it, a big nasty hiss told me I'd hit paydirt.

"Done ate the wrong eggs, didn't you?" I asked the alligator. He still had that gator smile, even stuck in a cage and looking like an idiot. "Get ready. Sorry about this."

It would have been easiest to drag the cage back into the deep swampland where nobody would bother the gator, but it wasn't safe. If anyone saw him rattling around in there, they'd say it was too dangerous and had to be killed. It _was_ maneater-size, barely. I guessed it was about five foot long. Definitely long enough to give someone a bad day. Anyway, I had to make sure no one saw us on the way, which was why I told Pa I was doing some fishing. The plastic fish tank wasn't as easy to see through as the metal mesh trap. The really fun part was getting the hisser into the tank.

Hissers are even stronger than they look. If I'd tried to wrestle it straight out, it would have showed me who was boss. Instead I had to poke it forward with a stick until it was almost out of the cage, which I'd angled over the tank. When it was halfway out, I put one hand behind its head and the other under its belly to push it forward the last little bit. It tossed like a bull and snapped its jaws on my fake arm.

"Ha! Too late for that," I said as its teeth clanged on my hook. "Go ahead and eat it. I got plenty more."

* * *

 **Eren: I go to Duluth every year, so when I needed a sailing song, I went right to that one. She is tall with short brown hair, gray eyes, muscles from training, and tanned skin.**

 **Gator: People who have been here a while know I sometimes rearrange reality if it suits me. Most maps put Four in California, but I switched it to the Gulf of Mexico because I've never gotten a Cajun Tribute and Gator is hilarious. He has curly brown hair in a bandanna, dark eyes, and a big smile. Also a prosthetic hook he made, since his arm is gone after the elbow from a fight with an alligator.**

 **Oops, I forgot! I thought "I better make sure to add this note, or Gator makes no sense". Then I forgot. He did not volunteer. The chosen volunteer found out the day before the Games that his girlfriend was pregnant. He did not volunteer and the other trainees hesitated in confusion and apprehension, leaving Gator to go into the Games.**


	5. Five Reaping

**ReaderCastellan was nice enough to resend Ally, so here they are.**

* * *

Acer Packard- 16

"You're sixteen. You have to start being responsible," my sister Marie said. We were arguing about household chores, and she refused to look at the bigger picture.

"I _want_ to be responsible, but you won't let me be responsible for anything!" I said. "I washt the dishes and you tell me I'm holding the rag wrong. I tried sweeping the kitchen and you took the broom and did it yourself. How can I be responsible if you treat me like a baby?" I asked.

"I wouldn't treat you like a baby if you didn't act like one," she said.

I clenched my hand behind my back and kept my face slack, since she interpreted any sign of emotion as "irrationality" and said it only meant she was right. "All right. You're right. I want to stop acting like a baby. Can you please tell me how to act like an adult?" I said, trying to keep the strain from my voice.

"You're sixteen. I shouldn't have to tell you," she said. "I have to do everything around here."

"Then let me help you," I said.

"You'd just mess it up," she said.

"Then do it yourself!" I snapped. I stormed off to my room, knowing she was just going to yell at me anyway. _Women!_ Not all women, but the particular women I lived with. They whined and moaned about how they worked so hard and nobody ever helped them, but whenever my father and I tried to help, they pushed us away. What did they want, a medal? Some people just want to be martyrs. It just went to show how messed up my family was that I was in an argument because I wanted to do _more_ chores.

They thought they knew everything. According to my mother and my sister, the very existence of our family rested on them. They decided where I'd work and when I went to bed and who would get what if anything happened to them. I never saw this in other families. They worked together, or one parent was gone, or they didn't work together at all. Never this self-imposed matriarchy.

They were starting to bug me about marriage. My mother would point out one girl or another and nudge me. "She's a nice one," she'd hint. _If_ I decided I _wanted_ to get married, I could pick a wife out myself. They certainly weren't giving me much motivation. From what I saw, women were all right, but I didn't want to spend my life with one.

I was still thinking about it a week later while I waited in the crowd during the Reaping. I wasn't crazy enough to volunteer just to spite my family, but I _was_ crazy enough to take just about any way out of that family. The way I saw it, I could spend the rest of my life harried by two harridans who thought they knew what was best for me, or I could seize my chance to finally live my own life. A likely short life, but long lives are hardly preferable in Panem. And I did enjoy the expression on the face of the boy I saved.

"I volunteer as Tribute!"

* * *

Ally Tesla- 12

I opened the blinds and sat on the foot of my sister's bed.

"Time to get up, sleepyhead," I said. Abby rolled over and put her pillow over her head.

"Come on. You slept like _all day_ yesterday," I said. My sister didn't have many friends or hobbies. She usually just went to work, came home, and slept until bedtime. She hadn't been showering recently, but I didn't tell her she smelled bad. She would have worn the same shirts every day if I hadn't swiped them while she was in bed and tossed them in the laundry.

"I don't want to get up," she said.

"Yeah, me neither," I said. "You can't go to bed if you don't get up."

Abby chuckled as she slid out of bed. She looked tiredly at our small closet and the dozen shirts inside.

"Wear this one," I said, picking a yellow shirt. "It's cloudly outside, but you'll look like the sun." I helped her get dressed and we went to breakfast.

"It's a big day today, so eat a lot," I said. Abby hadn't been eating much lately. She said she wasn't hungry. It was hard for me to understand when people said one thing and meant another, but I could tell she was sad about something. I did my best to be even happier than usual, because she needed it.

I was glad Abby was with me when we went to the Reaping. I loved being with all the people, but sometimes the other kids teased me. They said I talked funny and they thought it was very funny that I flapped my arms when I ran. If Abby was there, I could play with them and still have somewhere to go if they got mean.

Aurelia looked very pretty up on the stage. Her dress was covered in rainbow fringe that fluttered in the breeze.

"I think I'll pick the girl first this time! How about that?" she said. Abby didn't laugh, and I didn't think it was very funny either. She did that half the time. Her nails made scractchy noises inside the glass bowl.

"Our female Tribute is Ally Tesla!" she said. Everyone stared at me as I went on the stage. I waited politely for Aurelia to let me talk.

"Let's hear from our brave Tributes," she said after she Reaped the boy. She put the microphone next to me. "Do you have anything to-"

"NO!" I shouted, and I stomped off the stage.

* * *

 **Acer has long black hair in a ponytail. He has light brown skin and dark brown eyes. He is five foot eight and thin. Ally is medium height and weight with brown hair and eyes and fair skin.**

 **Wiki update: I'm up as far as Mars for Victors and Tracelyn has added some Tributes.**

 **w iki/K erry_ Selmosa**

 **The link, maybe?**


	6. Six Reaping

**I couldn't find the Five girl... which does not mean she wasn't sent, since I probably just misplaced her. Anyway, here's Six.**

* * *

Aran Cooper- 16

Reality is overrated in Panem. I can accept most of it, like my family and my job. It's the things none of us want to think about that get me. Things like Avoxes and Hunger Games and the things they do to people the Capitol doesn't like. I couldn't live in a world with things like that. I _do_ live in this world, so I must be wrong about things like that. They can't really be real.

Everyone's afraid at the Reaping. They were all afraid they were going to die, but that couldn't be real. Panem was built on fear and power. They didn't really have to kill anyone. The Games were just for show, or they wouldn't televise them. They picked the winner beforehand. Usually it was a Career, to show that loyalty would be rewarded, but sometimes they let the little guy win so we wouldn't lose hope. The ones they didn't pick pretended to die so there would be drama and spectacle, and then they took them off and made them into Avoxes deep in the Capitol where no one from the Districts would recognize them. It wasn't as bad as people thought.

I was still scared when the escort picked a name from the bowl. Even if the Games weren't real, bad things still happened in Panem. It would hurt to be made into an Avox. I wondered what it was like to never talk again, and to never be able to see my family again.

"Aran Cooper!"

People looked at me like I was a corpse as I walked by them. I wished they wouldn't stare at me with such terrified, ghastly expressions. Every one of them thought I was going to die. If so many people thought something crazy, it didn't seem crazy anymore. It was hard to convince myself it wasn't real as I went up to the stage.

I'd had nightmares about the Games before. Real and unreal didn't have any meaning in dreams. In the dreams, the Games were just what they seemed, and I never won. I'd died a thousand ways in the night- stabbed by Careers, torn by mutts, ravaged by sickness or starvation or heat or cold. They were just dreams, and I always woke up. I couldn't wake up from reality.

 _It's not real,_ I told myself. _It's just a show. It'll be bad and it will probably hurt, but it's not really real. Not all the way._ But it sure felt real on that stage.

* * *

Kirsta Thales- 16

All the angels and good Samaritans of Six wanted to help the morphlings. They talked about the poor, neglected street children shoving their bodies full of poison and wished something could be done about the little dears. I shouldn't have been so harsh on them. They wanted to help. Some of them devoted their lives to helping. I wished they would give up on me.

There was something they didn't understand. Nobody did morphling because it was fun. The ones who took morphling were the ones that couldn't bear life without it. Sometimes I thought we were the only ones that saw life clearly. If the angels and Samaritans saw the same world we did, they'd be shoving needles into themselves just like us. Panem was a hopeless, dark wasteland. There were no happy ending here and nothing to look forward to. The only thing that could hide that from us was morphling.

My mother had already made breakfast when I got up. She didn't like me to be in the kitchen alone. Addicts had been known to eat spoonfuls of nutmeg or try to smoke banana peels. I was supposed to be off the hard stuff, and my parents were more vigilant than I was. I wanted to be a good person and a good daughter, but it was hard to keep it up here. It didn't seem like anyone cared in the long run.

"Thanks, Mom," I said. She wasn't really my mother, but she loved me more than the woman who donated womb space for nine months. I wasn't usually so polite, and my mother was surprised when I thanked her. She almost didn't mention what she'd found in my backpack.

"What's this doing here?" she asked, holding up an empty can. I hadn't wanted to disappoint her, and I wished I'd left the can in the store. I only drank it to get rid of some of the troubles and cares weighing me down. I only really felt like me when I was drunk or high.

"Oh, that? It must have been in there a long time," I said.

"Then why is it damp?" my mother asked, turning the can over so a drop fell out. I wished she didn't look like she wanted to cry.

"I only had one. It didn't even do anything. It just helped me calm down," I said. I knew my excuses didn't mean anything. I just wanted to make it less bad than it was.

"We can talk about this later. When you get back," my mother said. Her voice cracked on the last word, and not because she was angry.

I was angry as I walked to the Reaping- angry and scared. Angry at myself for giving in to temptation and scared for the Reaping and for my parents. I kept saying I should be a better person, but I never did it. Someday they'd stop asking, and it would be too late. Or it might be too late today.

* * *

 **Aran is 5'9, with short brown curly hair, medium skin, and brown eyes. He is thin, but has a tiny bit of muscle from working as a mechanic. He is missing the top half of his middle finger from an accident while working.**

 **Kirsta is pale from lack of sun with long, flowing, chocolate brown hair. She has icy blue eyes, with bags under them. She is around 5'8 and 115 pounds. She has a large scar on her right thigh and long eyelashes.**


	7. Eight Reaping

**I was supposed to change Cavender's name but forgot what the new name was. So I'll change it after I remember.**

* * *

Niko Lafont- 17

We shouldn't have done it. _I_ shouldn't have done it. I should have said no or stopped them. Giacomo and Alessio didn't think it would turn out this way. They never thought about things like this. They just meant to have fun. I was the only one who saw this coming. I should have stopped it.

None of us meant to break anything. Giacomo and Alessio said we'd just sneak into the plant after ours and goof around. We were boys, and boys tended to goof around harder than they intended to. I got scared when the twins were wrestling by one of the machines and cracked the glass dome over a light, but I didn't say anything. I didn't want them to get mad at me. I was just being a fraidy cat. We'd disabled the cameras, so we had nothing to worry about.

The twins didn't get nervous until they noticed some shards of glass on the floor. By then, I was freaking out. They saw that our escapade might not go unnoticed and we all ran for it. We swore each other to lifelong secrecy, knowing that justice in Panem was harsh and often complete.

We knew they'd find out, but we didn't think it would be this bad. The plant manager came out of his office flanked by Peacekeepers. They gathered us all around the mess the three of us had made.

"Who's responsible for this?" the manager asked. I looked at the floor and I was sure everyone knew it was me. It must have been obvious. But no one said anything.

"Someone's responsible. They'll be responsible for a lot more if they don't speak up," the manager said. The Peacekeepers stood silent as sentinels.

"All right," the manager said. He picked a man from the front of the crowd and yanked him in front of the Peacekeepers.

"It might be this one. We wouldn't want to let a guilty man go free," he said. The Peacekeepers were silent as ever as they leaned the man against the broken machine and started to whip him. I flinched with every hit and shuddered with the weight of my secret.

"Or maybe it's this one," the manager said, picking a woman. I'd never heard such horrible sounds. I wished it was me up there, where I belonged.

" _Remember what we promised,"_ Alessio whispered beside me. He and Giacomo had snuck their way over to me, knowing I was the weak link. I nodded wordlessly as tears dripped onto the ground.

It was getting harder to breathe. I wished I could scream along with the woman. The twins saw the state I was in and moved in front of my to block my view, but I could still hear the screams.

* * *

Cavander Jones- 15

My date with Brian was something out of a romance book. We crawled out of a window and onto the roof of my house, Brian almost tumbling off as he tried to get the picnic supplies up on the roof after us. We spread out the blanket and took out bread and butter and cheese and cookies. My parents had been trying to get me a boyfriend for years, so they'd eagerly cleared out when they heard I was bringing one home. It was just us.

"My lady," Brian said, making a sweeping gesture toward my spot on the roof. I sat down and he followed. The food was lovely, but like most picnics, it was more about the company.

"It's a lovely view," I said, looking out at the District around us. I lived in the nicest part of Eight. It was mostly factory owners and politicians in my area. We had real houses, not those horrible shacks most people lived in. It always confused me why they didn't save up and buy real houses. Theirs were so ugly.

"Here's hoping we stay here forever," Brian said.

"I want to see everything else someday. I can't stay here forever," I said.

"I didn't mean that. I just meant I hope we had houses forever. We all want to get out," Brian said.

"What would you do if you did?" I asked.

Brian shrugged. "Just wander around all the Districts. One after another. Forever, maybe. What about you?"

"I'd want to see them all, but then I'd pick one to live in, at least most of the time. Maybe Four. I like the ocean. Or I would if I'd ever been there," I said.

"You'd just live in one place and be a homebody? That's a nice life," Brian said, and it wasn't sarcastic.

"I wouldn't just sit around eating chocolates and gossiping. I'd do something important. Something _real_ important. I want my name in history books, not just on a gravestone," I said.

"Is it raining?" Brian said. When I said it, I noticed it had been raining for some time. Our bread was soggy and my clothes were damp. I got up to get our things and go inside.

"It doesn't matter. They're already wet, and so are we," Brian said.

"Are we just going to stay out in the rain?" I asked, but Brian was busy stomping the forming puddles.

"You look like you're dancing," I said.

"I could use a partner," he said. It wasn't much of a dance up there in the rain, just two hooligans stomping water and hopping around like lunatics. But it was more fun than I'd had in ages, and I learned something. Before, I'd been going out with Brian because my mother kept hinting and talking him up and sighing about grandchildren. It was always fun but meaningless, but I felt something up there that day. Maybe I'd finally grant her wish. There was something else I felt, too- something I felt all the next week.

A cold.

* * *

 **Nico looks like Leroy Sane. He is biracial and has an afro. Cavendar looks like Madisen Beaty**


	8. Nine Reapings

**The Five boy should be here soon because it's not a case of someone who hasn't made their character yet. His form got sent so far back I hadn't made the document for Heart of Darkness yet, so I misplaced it in some other file.**

* * *

Nassor Doyle- 17

My lighter was an empty pill canister I found in the dirt, a wad of milkweek fluff, some bits of wire and a spoonful of gasoline nicked from a tractor. I flicked it idly as I sat on the roof of a machine shed. I didn't plan to start any fires or anything like that. I just had nothing better to do, since I was just fired. _I_ thought racing mice on a tractor belt was hilarious. My manager thought otherwise.

I could see a long way from the top of the shed- even farther than in most places, since Nine was so flat. Sometimes I wondered about what was out there beyond Nine. All I ever saw of the other Districts was peeks when I looked at the background during their Reapings on television. I was always torn about it. I wanted to go see what was there, but I probably wouldn't if I had the chance. I didn't like change. I wished I could go explore the outside but bring Nine along with me.

"What's that?"

I looked down and saw some little kid looking at my lighter.

"It's a lighter," I said.

"Where did you find it?" he asked.

"I made it," I said. I scooted down the roof and jumped off to show it to him.

"How?" he asked.

I opened the top so he could see the contents. "It's not really that hard. It just needs some fuel, something to burn, and something to hold it," I said.

"Won't it just burn up all the fluff?" he asked.

"It's only a tiny flame, since there's not much air in there. And it does burn the fluff after a few minutes. Then I get new stuff," I said.

"How does it not burn your hand?" he asked.

"It would if I stuck my hand over it," I said.

"How do you make it open like that?" he asked.

"I... you know what, why don't you take it apart and find out?" I said, and I gave him the lighter.

"For me? To _keep?"_ he asked.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'll make another one," I said. Different people were good at different things, and I was good at inventions. A lighter was easy for me. Especially since one time I made a flamethrower. But that was another story.

* * *

Jeanie Clay- 16

On my twelfth birthday, I went to the Justice Hall to sign up for tesserae. It wasn't a death wish or overconfidence. We were just hungry. On my way out, I saw something glinting on the roof. I'd never noticed the Justice Building had a skylight. I wondered why people like the Gamemakers would want to see something as pretty and pure as they sky.

I never should have done it, but I had to see. Maybe I had more of a deathwish and was more overconfident than I admitted. I snuck back to the Hall that night and crept up the side of the building. There were ledged and fire escapes, so it was easy. The moon gave me enough light to see, but it was still dark enough that nobody would see me unless they were inside the building, which was empty.

I hauled myself onto the roof and crawled out onto the skylight. It reflected the light from the sky and glowed white. I could see through the glass went I bent close, like I was sitting on the moon and looking down on another planet. There was a scaffolding under the glass so the windows could be cleaned. Under that, there was an open room lined with shelves. And in one corner of the skylight, there was a hinge.

The skylight was heavy, but I was determined. I got it open a crack and wedged myself in, pushing it up enough to squeeze through. I landed on the scaffolding and climbed down the attached ladder to the floor. The room was dark and dusty and smelled older than dirt. In the dim light, I could barely see that the shelves were full of books.

I picked one from a shelf and squinted to see its title in the dark. The book was covered in dust and looked about ready to fall apart. The cover was faded and torn, and it rustled alarmingly when I opened it. It wasn't like the books in Nine's library. They were old, but not _this_ old, and they were generally about one of five topics: the Capitol, the Hunger Games, agriculture, morality tales, and chilren's books. This one seemed to be about a faraway kingdom filled with strange animals and humanlike things. I could sense just by the secret nature of the room and the neglected state of the book that it wasn't meant for the people to read.

That did not stop me. I crouched in a corner by a lamp I dared to plug in and read a hundred pages of the book before I knew I had to get back home. For the next four years I snuck out every night I dared and read all the books I could. I had to cut back after my performance in the fields declined, but I still went at least once a week. It was the biggest rebellion I could tolerate- I'd seen what happened to people who tried to escape, but this was the next best thing. All the worlds denied to me were in those books, and all the lessons the Capitol didn't want me to learn. They didn't want me going anywhere, but right under their noses, I went everywhere.

* * *

 **Nassor is** **five foot eight and stocky. He has almond-shaped hazel eyes, with tanned skin and a wide nose, and wavy brown hair that is overgrown and messy. His mother was part Polynesian and Japanese, his father is part Egyptian.**

 **Jeanie Clay has Dark brown eyes, light brown skin, heavy freckles, short wavy black hair, medium height, lean and muscular, steady strong hands, and a face usually set in a thoughtful half-frown.**

 **Shameless plug: don't forget to read IVolunteerasAuthor's story The Kiridian Chronicles and my story Others on Fictionpress!**


	9. Ten Reaping

**I had the Eight girl after all, I just put her in the wrong place. But I had the Tens half done so I'll do that next.**

* * *

Hayden Ellis- 17

There are a lot of different ways to stay smart. People think that all that matters is book smarts, but that's just one definition. I'd seen a lot of people in the world that did great in school and fell apart once they hit the real world. In my experience, the most important thing to have was emotional intelligence- not that knowing your feelings crap, but knowing what to look for when other people were talking and knowing how to tell a truth from a lie. If we'd known that back in the Dark Days, we wouldn't be scraping by to live while the Capitol had it all. The Capitol knew people.

My skills served me well in my line of work. Like most people in Ten, I worked with livestock. People had an idea that Ten was made of quaint little farms where fair maids milked cows and we all rose everywhere on horseback. More often, one livestock baron owned a plantation spanning thousands of acres, and dozens more people lived on it doing the work. I, for example, was a breeder. Which sounded revolting but obviously meant I bred _animals._ With each other. I started with cows and worked my way to adding pigs and chickens. Most of our labor went to the boss, but if I exceeded a quota of offspring, I was allowed to take some excess as an incentive. I had a fat young calf just at selling weight, I was at the market, and I was ready to go.

"How much are you looking to get for him?" a man asked. I'd been watching him as he looked at the options. He was dressed shabbily, but his shoes were clean.

"He's 844 and six months old," I said. "At the going rate, that would be 370 coins." It was slightly higher than market, but not a swindle.

"Can you do 340?" the man asked.

"There are people here who can do a lot better," I said. It was the name of the game at the meat market. Everyone was looking for a steal. We all wanted to be the one that took, not the one that got taken.

"It's for my family. It will last us all winter," the man said.

"I bet it will. He's pretty fat," I said.

"Can't you help us out? You know how things are," he said.

"Yeah, I know how things are. Which is why I can't afford to sell for less than what he's worth," I said, and I looked around. "I can also see he's the only six monther here. It's either pay the price for him, or get a different one twice as big... and twice as expensive. 370. For your family."

The man paid reluctantly but without resignation. He could afford it. He just wanted a deal. He was looking in the wrong place.

* * *

Ethel Bulhera- 14

 _I wished the real world and dream world could switch places. I always knew when I was dreaming, and it meant I could do anything I wanted. This time, I was flying above an ocean, looking down at rainbow fish and trying to scoop them out of the water because I knew they tasted like candy. Then a foghorn sounded out of nowhere._

 _"_ Ethel! Rise and shine!"

It was easy to get lost in my house, even though it only had two rooms. There were my three cousins along with me, plus my aunt and uncle. It was so crowded and hectic that one of us could be on the floor dead for half an hour before someone thought to check. Aunt Agueda always gave them more food and they ate a lot, so I had to get sneaky. She always gave them more of the main dishes, but they didn't like vegetables, so I ate a lot of broccoli and carrots, and sometimes I ate lumps of butter right off the stick. I ran out of the house right after I was done to get away from the racket.

There was one good thing about being a girl in a house full of boys. They all went to the stockyards to shovel manure and herd cows. I got to work inside with the bookkeepers and secretaries, writing down receipt slips or tallying inventory. It wasn't so great when it was sunny out, but it was great on cold or rainy days. I sat with the other ladies for hours writing down boring things, and then I made my escape.

The hours were regular at the ranch, and my shift was over. On the way out, I swiped a handful of sheets of paper and two pencils. I stuffed them under my shirt and acted normal as I passed by the other ladies. They were all busy talking or putting things away, and no one paid any attention to me. I was used to that, and it had advantages.

There were lots of barns on the farm, of course. Most of them had lofts full of hay, and I liked to do my writing there. I had a lot of dreams, both at night and during the day. I liked to write them down and make stories out of them. Someday I'd sell one and I wouldn't have to work anymore.

 _Millie Jones was like most girls,_ I wrote. _She lived on a ranch with her parents. But there was something different about Millie. She could talk to animals. But not all animals. Actually just one, a sheep named Muddy. Muddy was very crabby._

Muddy and Millie were just about to set a trap for the eagle that kept swooping down and carrying the lambs away when Bess interrupted me. She poked her head up into the hayloft triumphantly.

"A-ha! I knew I'd find you around here somewhere. All right, give it back," she said. I handed over my stolen paper and pencil and she went down the ladder grumbling at me. I usually got caught. Which was why I took two pencils this time.

* * *

 **Hayden looks like Tyrone Smithers. Ethel is half Asian and half Portuguese. She has tannish colored skin and long, shiny, sleek black hair, as well as smaller round dark brown eyes. She stands at 5'4'' and weighs a meager 90 lbs (she is malnourished)**

 **Wiki update: I got the Victors done as far as Cornflower and TER has been working on Arenas and her Tributes. Link on her page**


	10. Eleven Reaping

Maren McRae, 15 (Seeking allies)

People call me difficult. I call _them_ difficult.

I'm not the one who runs a country by killing kids and inspiring fear in everyone. I don't occupy a District like an army, watching people work themselves to death instead of helping so none of us have to work so hard. I'm just a girl who doesn't stay quiet and not mention how messed up things are. According to them, that makes me difficult.

It had not been a good day. It's not easy to work and go to school at the same time. It's even harder when you're fifteen, the work is picking rocks out of a field, and the schoolbooks are faded and missing pages because they're so old. I'd stayed up nearly until morning last night studying just to stay afloat, and as soon as the sun came up, it was time to go to work. I'd been bending and standing for hours, lugging twenty-pound rocks out of a field after the spring floods washed them back in. My muscles ached and my back felt like it was on fire.

I was never one to sneak by. When I had something to say, I said it, which got me in trouble a lot. We workers had a million tricks to get out of work. We would pretend to hoe the same spot over and over, like there was an especially rough patch of dirt we had to break through. We shoved seeds into the ground without tilling it. We shook the trees when no one was looking instead of climbing all the way up to the top. I didn't resent the people who did that, but I resented the way we had to go about it. All those sneaky tricks implied the work was bearable and that we were cutting corners. We shouldn't have _had_ to do any of those things. We shouldn't be working in conditions like that. And nothing was ever going to change if nobody said anything.

I set my rock back on the ground and sat on it. Straight away, an overseer ran over to read me the riot act. I didn't get up.

"What is going on here?" the overseer asked.

"A break," I said.

"There are no breaks," the overseer said.

"Really? Because I'm taking one," I said.

"We gonna do this again, McRae?" he asked.

"Yeah, we are," I said. I knew exactly what he meant. I'd gotten whipped plenty of times before. What he didn't know was that our work sucked so bad and I was so tired that I would rather lean against a whipping post and feel a whip on already thick and callused skin than pick up one more rock.

The overseer gestured to the Peacekeepers, and I rose. I never gave them unnecessary trouble. If I was the slighest bit difficult, they could say I was the problem. I walked proudly and calmly between the Peacekeepers, giving them no ammunition against me as they led a teenager to have the skin flayed from her back. It was a shameful sight. Someday, we wouldn't be able to take it anymore.

* * *

Jayson Dable- 17

"Are you ready for this?" I asked.

"Yes!" the kids surrounding me yelled.

"Are you sure!" I asked.

 _"_ _Yes!"_ they screamed.

"All right. Here goes!" I said. I hefted the giant sack of seeds they were all clustered around- the one they were sure no one was strong enough to lift. They cheered wildly as I lifted it over my head. To be fair, it wasn't as heavy as they thought it was. It looked bigger when you were little. But it _was_ the biggest sack of seeds we used, and none of the other workers ever lifted it alone. Mostly because it was stupid and you could get hurt. But sometimes... I was a little stupid.

A menacing figure approached from the other side of the field, and some of the children scattered as they saw him coming. The others fell silent, leaving me to face the villain.

"Jayson, what are you doing?" Overseer Mustard said.

"Lifting some seeds," I said, still carrying the bag.

"Why?" he asked, in the exasperated tone he usually used when speaking to me.

"Because they are here and they need to be over there," I said, shifting the bag to point to an open furrow waiting to be seeded.

"And you had to do this alone," he said.

"What, it's not like it's heavy," I said.

"You may be invincible now, but someday you're going to hurt yourself. You only have one back, boy," he said. I set the bag on the ground.

"Okay, I'll carry this little one instead," I said, picking up a smaller bag of seeds. The bag happened to have a little boy sitting on it, but that wasn't important. The boy yelped as I scooped him up along with the seeds so he sat enthroned on the bag in my arms. The remaining children gasped in awe.

"It's your body," Overseer Mustard said. "Don't come crying to me if you break it. And I won't lower your quota, either."

Two weeks later, it was Reaping Day. I wasn't nervous about it. I never won anything- just a pie-eating contest once, and that was because we could only afford ten pies. There was no way I was going to get picked.

"Jayson Dable!" Snapdragon called. _Guess there's a first time for everything._

It wasn't under the best of circumstances, but it was great to have the entire District looking at me on that stage. I was looking _fine,_ too. I wore my best clothes. They didn't even have any rips

"Let's hear from our brave Tributes!" Snapdragon said. I seized my chance and the microphone.

"Hey everyone, I'm Jayson Dable and what do I say? Bring it on!" I said, and I flexed for the crowd. Most of them were too stunned to say anything, but a few of the littler kids cheered. There was no use being all doom and gloom about it. I got Reaped and that was that. It didn't mean I had to give up and die. I was big. I was strong. People like me won the Games. _Like..._ I tried to think of the last Eleven Victor like me and drew a blank. _Okay, so it's been a while. That just means it's about time for it to happen._

* * *

 **Maren is tall and lean with dark hair and skin. Her eyes are squinty and her nose is pointy. Sadly, she suffers from Resting Grumpy Face. Jayson is the same: big buff white dude.**


	11. Seven Girl

**I got restless. Here's the Seven girl. The boy is coming soon.**

* * *

Marjorie "Jodie" Jackson- 17

" _Breath hitched in her bosom and she panted,_ panted _as his lips found her searching mouth. Stars and shimmers danced before her eyes, until all she could see was him..."_

"I'm dying a virgin," Lexi said. She put a hand over the page of the book I was reading aloud.

"You just _wish_ you kissed a guy so hard you saw things even though your eyes didn't work," Alecia said. "It must be terribly romantic."

"Come on, what happened next?" Mason called from above the tank. The whole thing was something I'd heard about from an old story. The story goes people used to raise money for things by having people sit in "dump tanks". Other people would pay to throw balls at a trigger than dumped someone into a tank of water. We didn't have a fancy tank, so we used an old container for logs. Mason was perched over it on a plank balanced by a basket of rocks. Our customers could pay for a chance to toss a giant rock at the basket. Any successful shots would overbalance the plank and Mason would fall in. Our slogan? "Take a dump on poverty".

That slogan was my idea, but the NPP was from all of us. The No Poverty Program was started after I was no longer in poverty. Sad as it was, it was a lot easier to raise money when I had some. I knew what it was like to be poor, and I didn't want anyone to go through it. Not everyone got a fairy-tale ending like my mother. She kissed a lot of frogs before she found a prince. I wondered for a long time about my stepfather. He was a nice guy, but I always wondered what he was doing in a bar where "princesses" "kissed" frogs.

"The next part is censored," Lexi said.

I pretended to look ahead in the book. "Next they kiss. _Really_ hard. So hard their bodies tingle all over. So hard they end up falling over. Lucky thing they were right above a bed."

"What? That's it?" Alecia said. She tried to peek over my shoulder.

"No, doofus. They had _sex,"_ Vanie said.

"Ugh," Lexi said. She didn't mind other people doing such things, but she found them undesirable.

"Ewwwww, cooties," Mason said. Vanie ran over to the tank and yanked the rope, dunking him in the water.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"That will be five coins," Lexi said.

* * *

 **Jodie** **is skinny and tall. She has white skin and baby blue eyes. She has a thick nose and long limbs. She has dimples. She has long nails and fingers. She also has brown curled hair that reaches up to her mid-stomach. She ties it into a fishtail braid. She has normal sized lips, eyelashes and eyebrows. She looks overall attractive and cute looking. She is interested in 2-4 allies.**


	12. Twelve Reapings

Yara Warsaw- 13 (Seeking allies)

I packed my books into my bag and got up as the bell rang. My bag was light as I started on my way home. That was the one nice thing about Reaping week. The teachers never gave us much homework. It was hard to concentrate with that hanging over our heads. I'd been trying to ignore it, and it was easier than last year. This year I had a bigger chance, but last year was my first time. I'd bene convinced I would get picked by some freak coincidence and die in the Bloodbath. If I got picked this year, I'd probably still die in the Bloodbath, but funnily, I wasn't as worried.

On days when I didn't have a lot of homework, I liked to read ahead in my books. It was helpful to study the hard things a long time before the tests, and there were a lot of textbooks I just really liked reading. We didn't have many books in Twelve. If my family had gotten any, we would have sold them for something more useful. The beat-up old textbooks from school were about the only things I ever got to read. I liked the social studies ones the most. Sometimes they had pictures of the rest of Panem.

As I walked home, I looked around at the trees and plants and thought of more designs for my sewing. I was too young to work in the mines, and my parents didn't let me take any more than one tesserae a year. I still wanted to be productive and help us get by, so I'd taken up embroidery. When our clothes got too threadbare for even us to wear, I tore them apart and used the fibers to make brightly colored pieces of embroidery. Mostly I make handkerchiefs, since they were the easiest shape. My main customers were the merchants and politicians in town. They liked fancy swirls and pretty flowers, so that's what I usually sewed.

I got right to work at home. I leaned my textbook up against a block of wood at our table so I could see it without leaning over. I was just starting a new handkerchief, so I still had to hem the edges. That was the easy part- so easy I could do it without looking and read at the same time. My parents were still in the mines, so I was all by myself.

One of the pictures in the books showed a bunch of tall, red trees. They were part of District Seven, according to the caption. I wondered why they only grew there. I would need the science book for that part, but I didn't feel like getting up to get it. Instead I looked at the background of the picture to see what else I could find. There was an acorn on the ground. The red trees didn't have acorns, so a squirrel must have carried it over. It caught my eye because it was so cute and tiny next to the trees. It was so pretty I decided to put two acorns in the corners of my handkerchief instead of the posy of flowers I usually sewed.

It was funny how a bad thought could lodge in your head and just linger there, always present but never in the front. Reaping week brought less homework and more free time, but none of us ever enjoyed it. It was impossible to forget the reason for the leisure time, and more free time meant more time to dwell on it. My life wasn't the easiest, but it was so much better than the Games. A known evil was better than an unknown one.

* * *

Laicao Dust- 15

The mines are dark. Dark is good. Creeping creatures come out in the dark, and I can eat them. In the light, there are people in the mines. They are afraid of me, and I don't like them either. Sometimes they catch me and drag me to the middle of town in the daylight for the Reaping. It's the only time I ever go to the town, and I hate it. It's bright and loud and there are so many people. On those days, I don't get to eat. I can't eat until they let me back into the mines to find food.

It was not always like this. A long, long time ago, I was with people every day. I lived with my parents in a house. The mines are dangerous, and I used to wonder if one day they wouldn't come home. Then the day came. The house was empty, and it slowly fell apart without them. I almost starved.

Only the mines saved me. There were rats and lizards in there. I caught them with my hands and tore them apart. People were afraid then. They saw the blood on the ground and thought someone had died. Someone _didn't_ die. Someone didn't starve, and that's why the blood was there. Roots poked out of the dirt over my head, and sometimes I ate those. When the snow came, the mine was as warm as ever. It became my home.

There was never enough food. My body got thinner, and I was always tired. One day, as I was stalking the dark passages in the mines, I smelled something. It smelled human, like sweat and dirt, but it smelled different than normal. I snuck closer and peeked around the corner of a shaft to see a person on the ground. He wasn't moving, and that was where the smell was coming from. I went up to him, ready to run if he suddenly moved.

He was dead. I could tell from how still he was and the funny way he'd landed. He smelled worse up close, but not the way old dead things did. I poked him in the side and he was cold and hard. He was looking up at the top of the shaft, and he looked scared. He was holding a broken flashlight, and bits of plastic were on the ground.

I knew I should tell someone, but I was scared. The people would bring me out into the town again to tell what happened. Nobody cared enough to come look for the man, so no one would care if I didn't tell.

I knelt by the man and my mouth watered. The thought was horrible, even for me, but I kept thinking it. The man hadn't been here long. When things died down here, the rats came and chewed on them. They started with the soft things, but this man's eyes were still there. If I'd come by earlier, I might have heard him screaming. I might have been able to help him if I'd wanted to. But he was dead now, and he was a lot bigger than a rat or a lizard.

* * *

 **Laicao, from his description, pretty much looks like Gollum or something. Yeah he ate that guy :( Yara has a brown pixie cut, blue-gray eyes, pale skin, and is skinny.**

 **BLOG UPDATE: The Victors are taken care of and I'm working on Capitol characters like Harlequin and Theodora. Some others have added a lot more Tributes.**

 **IMPORTANT NOTE: MRKenn has a new SYOT called** School's Not Out For the Summer. It looks good so go send people.


	13. Seven Reaping

**I got restless. Here's the Seven girl. The boy is coming soon.**

* * *

Marjorie "Jodie" Jackson- 17

" _Breath hitched in her bosom and she panted,_ panted _as his lips found her searching mouth. Stars and shimmers danced before her eyes, until all she could see was him..."_

"I'm dying a virgin," Lexi said. She put a hand over the page of the book I was reading aloud.

"You just _wish_ you kissed a guy so hard you saw things even though your eyes didn't work," Alecia said. "It must be terribly romantic."

"Come on, what happened next?" Mason called from above the tank. The whole thing was something I'd heard about from an old story. The story goes people used to raise money for things by having people sit in "dump tanks". Other people would pay to throw balls at a trigger than dumped someone into a tank of water. We didn't have a fancy tank, so we used an old container for logs. Mason was perched over it on a plank balanced by a basket of rocks. Our customers could pay for a chance to toss a giant rock at the basket. Any successful shots would overbalance the plank and Mason would fall in. Our slogan? "Take a dump on poverty".

That slogan was my idea, but the NPP was from all of us. The No Poverty Program was started after I was no longer in poverty. Sad as it was, it was a lot easier to raise money when I had some. I knew what it was like to be poor, and I didn't want anyone to go through it. Not everyone got a fairy-tale ending like my mother. She kissed a lot of frogs before she found a prince. I wondered for a long time about my stepfather. He was a nice guy, but I always wondered what he was doing in a bar where "princesses" "kissed" frogs.

"The next part is censored," Lexi said.

I pretended to look ahead in the book. "Next they kiss. _Really_ hard. So hard their bodies tingle all over. So hard they end up falling over. Lucky thing they were right above a bed."

"What? That's it?" Alecia said. She tried to peek over my shoulder.

"No, doofus. They had _sex,"_ Vanie said.

"Ugh," Lexi said. She didn't mind other people doing such things, but she found them undesirable.

"Ewwwww, cooties," Mason said. Vanie ran over to the tank and yanked the rope, dunking him in the water.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"That will be five coins," Lexi said.

* * *

Marcus Henry Wilberforce- 13

Most grownups are all worn down and tired. They never want to try anything anymore. They just work all day and go home all tired. It's easier for kids to stay happy, since we have so much more energy, but it still made me sad that grownups were so gloomy. That was why I planned _the prank._

It was easy to set up. I was always the first one at work in the morning. Once I was awake, there was no staying in bed. I always got my own breakfast and ran out of the house right away so my parents could have some peace and quiet. I ran all the way to the patch of forest we were working on. It was empty, since the sun was barely peeking up over the horizon. It was just me, the equipment, and the trees.

Among the equipment was a plain wooden chair. We were generally a good District, so we only had one Peacekeeper keeping an eye on us as we worked. He was there to make sure nobody stole the saws or axes or anything we could use as a weapon. He was also super lazy, which was why he had the chair. Every day he came in, looked over us all pompously like a slave driver, and sat down enthroned on his chair, lik it was just _so_ exhausting to look at us.

The axes and saws were all locked up, but I didn't need those. I had a pocketknife- just a little pocketknife, not big enough to hurt anyone. I crouched down by the chair and flipped it over. I got out my knife and started scraping at the wood where the legs met the seat. It was slow going, but I worked as fast as I could and scraped the wood away until the legs were only attached to the seat by a tiny spindle of wood. The legs were discolored from my work, so I filled the gouges with dirt so they were invisible. I flipped the chair back up and started pretending to set up for work just minutes before more people started trickling in.

"Hey, Marcus! Did you leave any work for the rest of us?" Leif asked as he waved at me.

"Only the easy stuff," I said. I was too little to do the really heavy lifting, but I always did the hardest stuff I could. It was training for when I would grow up to be firefighter. And pilot and doctor and superhero.

"What are you smiling about?" Leif asked with amusement. I was often smiling, but I had that wide eager smile kids got when they were making mischief, the kind that was impossible to hide.

"Nothing," I said, but I laughed in the middle and ruined the lie. I ran off to start working before Leif could ask any more. He kept peeking at me as we set up our supplies. I kept peeking at the tree line to see the peacekeeper.

When he finally came, I bent close to the tree I was by so he couldn't see me snickering. I watched as he unlocked the pole shed full of sharp things. He turned around and put his hands behind his back as he looked around at all of us under his shiny helmet. He nodded to himself, then walked to the chair. Leif looked at me with curiosity and a little alarm as I watched eagerly.

The peacekeeper leaned back with his bottom over the chair and sat down. There was a snap, then a crunch as the legs gave away and he tumbled backwards head over heels. He faceplanted in a tangle of limbs and got up with dirt all over his helmet. He looked around to see if anyone had seen. Thanks to my expression, _everyone_ had been looking.

My prank was a complete success. I gloried in the moment as I watched the peacekeeper try to look dignified as he got up and scraped the dirt off himself. In my own small way, I had defeated the villain. Just like a real superhero.

* * *

 **Jodie** **is skinny and tall. She has white skin and baby blue eyes. She has a thick nose and long limbs. She has dimples. She has long nails and fingers. She also has brown curled hair that reaches up to her mid-stomach. She ties it into a fishtail braid. She has normal sized lips, eyelashes and eyebrows. She looks overall attractive and cute looking. She is interested in 2-4 allies.**

 **Marcus is short and slim with dark curly hair, brown eyes and skin between white and black.**


	14. The Fun Begins

Blake Armani

I'd been worried about this moment ever since I got home. For someone like me, mentoring was quite the dilemna. I had Jayden's life partially in my hands. I could be the difference between life and death. But hers wasn't the only life in the balance. I wasn't mentoring someone trying to get home. I was mentoring a _Career-_ someone just like me.

"The important thing is to get you home. So don't get carried away, all right? It's okay to survive, but you don't have to go looking for kills," I said.

"Yeah, of course," Jayden said. "What do you think I am, a monster?"

* * *

Avariella Hanson

"Excited to be here?" I asked Chrome.

She shrugged. "It's all right. It wasn't my first choice. Oh, sorry. I shouldn't be rude," she said.

"I didn't like it after the first time either," I said. "Seems like a lot of Careers end up changing their minds."

"That's a good sign. It means a lot of them won," Chrome said.

"So why are you here then, anyway?" I asked.

"Parents. You know how it is," she said.

"Yeah, I know."

* * *

Acee Hal

My Tribute was a vampire. Lovely.

* * *

Shane Donegal

"Hey, we match!" Gator said, waving his fake arm and pointing at my three fake fingers. "Gator got mine."

"Did you get him back?" I asked. It was so surreal it seemed the natural thing to ask.

"I wasn't trying to kill him. I was just trying to move him away from town. He had other ideas," Gator said. "But about the Games... any ideas?"

"You're not... like other Careers, are you?" I asked.

"No, not really, but I think I should still stick with them. Better allies than enemies," he said.

It was nice to have someone who didn't think I was "soft" or a "disgrace to Careers everywhere". It was going to be very interesting to mentor Gator.

* * *

Erwin Jackson

I knew before I even met Acer that I wasn't going to like him. First, he was a volunteer. I had no respect for people who volunteered for this. I only ever warmed up to Sky because she was so sorry about it. She was the best-case scenario: a damaged, sorrowful penitent. Usually, things turned out so much worse.

"So... I volunteered. Kind of crazy, huh?" Acer asked, obviously aware of my feelings on the matter. He got exactly what he expected.

* * *

Toby Cash

The boy seemed to be enjoying himself. He was looking out the windows at the land rushing by. I looked out with him, since it _was_ very pretty. It looked like one of my friend's paintings- all swirls and curves and pretty colors.

* * *

Sequoia Wilson

A rich girl from Seven. I never thought I'd see the day. Other than me, that was, and I was only rich because I won.

"Have you made a strategy yet?" I asked Jodie.

"I already know some survival stuff and I've used an axe, so I was planning to divide my training time between those and get better," she said.

"That's a good plan. That's pretty much what I end up telling most of my mentees. There's two parts to winning. There's staying alive, and there's not dying. They seem like the same thing, but you already know what I mean. There's offense and defense. It's good to know both."

* * *

Tillo Peters

Oh, a rich girl. That's nice. She probably used all her money to help poor people and feed starving kids and work to make Eight a better place. Or maybe she stayed in her house and ate her fancy food and ignored everyone else entirely, like all the other rich people I'd met.

"Couldn't buy your way out of this one?" I asked.

"Of course not. What kind of question is that?" Cavender asked.

"Pity," I said. Cavender's face shifted as she moved toward anger.

"Sorry I'm rich, okay? Money can't save me in the Arena, either. You might be able to, unless you want to keep being a bitter sourpuss," she said.

"You sure you _want_ to live?" I asked.

"Yeah, maybe someday I can be just like you," she said sourly. _Wouldn't that just be the best karma? Ending up as bitter as me._

* * *

Chimera Ilium

"Lately, Nine has not been doing very well. I hope we can change things this year. If one of you wins, I can go back to being a just plain escort. And you will not die. So I think we can agree this is the best plan," I said. Jeanie and Nassor shared a confused glance. Sometimes District people don't understand very well.

"I think you're right. I shall do my very best to win," Jeanie said.

"I second that," Nassor said.

"Ah, good. Then everything is in order," I said.

* * *

Calvary Warsaw

"What's it like in the Capitol?" Ethel asked.

"Really big. Really fancy. Really loud," I said.

"Are the streets really made of gold?" she asked.

"No, they're just black. They're pretty smooth though," I said.

"Do people really have pink hair and blue skin and three eyes?" she asked.

"I've seen pink hair and blue skin. Never three eyes," I said. Ethel showed me a notebook she'd found somewhere on the train.

"I'm going to write everything down I see there. That way I can write a story about it," she said.

 _Yeah, good luck with that,_ I thought. "Cool. I bet it will be great," I said.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Jayson and I were like film negatives of each other. I was wiry, he was buffer than a bulldog. I was calm, he was bouncing off the walls. I was quiet, he was... not. It was like something from a Capitol sitcom.

"Hey, it's the Emotionless Victor! It's neat to meet you. I'm Jayson, the emotional Tribute," he said.

"Pleasant to meet you," I said as I took the hand he offered.

"You don't have to hang around with me if you don't want. You have lots of good advice and I'd be happy to hear it, but I'm pretty _extroverted._ You might get annoyed, since you're... you," Jayson said. He didn't have to worry about that, since I was incapable of getting annoyed without copious chemical assistance. But it was nice of him to ask.

* * *

Nubu Sanders

 _Oh my god._

What happened to that boy? Laicao was crouched on the table shoving food into his mouth and growling whenever I got too close. Two Avoxes were huddled nervously behind the door in case he attacked me.

"Laicao?" I asked. Laicao hopped forward at the noise and glared at me.

"It's okay. Go ahead and eat," I said. The Avoxes looked terrified, but I was more horrified than anything else. Things like this weren't supposed to happen, even in Twelve. I had tried to find some information on Laicao before I met him, but there weren't any records. Nobody cared enough about the boy to even record whether he was alive or dead. No wonder he was a savage. No one cared enough to treat him like a human.


	15. Because You're Worth It

**I forgot about Rhoda so I made her appear twice in this chapter. Then I thought I might as well show Careen too. In hindsight, I should have had Sky as well. I'll be sure to add her more later.**

Rhoda Hamilton

I was glad to rescue Jeanie and Nassor from Chimera. He was a nice guy, but... his IQ was the same as his temperature. He told our Tributes the same thing every year, and I rescued then just after he gave his speech.

"He just told you it would be a good idea to win, didn't he?" I asked.

"Yep," Nassor said.

"To be fair, he's right, I guess," I said. "But it might be a good idea to tell you _how_ to win. I would know that... sort of." Nassor smiled briefly and quickly hid it, afraid he'd offended me.

"Whatever keeps me alive," I said with a shrug. "Now, about the parade. If there's anything I know about, it's fashion."

* * *

Careen Ellis

I was training a mini-me. Eren liked beaches and surfing and all the stuff I liked. But then, just about everyone in Four liked those things. It wasn't like she was copying me. It was surreal to be training her, though. We would have been friends if neither of us had volunteered. She was only a few years younger than me.

"Whatever happens, don't let it weight on you," I said to her. "We didn't start the Games. We're only finishing what they started. People are going to die no matter what. We can only make the best of it."

* * *

Hollan Makhpiya

 _I know this one!_ I mostly read fashion books and mysteries, but I _had_ heard of Attila the Hun. That made my job with Attila a lot easier. There were no great warriors named Jayden, so I would have to be creative. If Attila was the harsh-looking one, I'd make Jayden the gorgeous-looking one. She could be gorgeous and still strong, though. People from One usually were.

* * *

Tigris Chatte

Chrome was as spare and fathomless as the stone from her District. It worked perfectly for an idea I'd been waiting to use until the right Tribute came along. It wouldn't work at all for Hero, who saw my uncertainty and chimed in.

"Just take my shirt off and it can't get any better," he said, flexing. My eyebrows went up and a feline grin crossed my face.

"Oh no. I wasn't serious..."

* * *

Cilantro Pestle

"You want to be an EMP?" I asked Shinju, who nodded.

"They suck the life out of electricity," she said. That was... odd. And now I had to look up what an EMP was.

"How about you?" I asked Jack. I always had a few spare ideas, but I liked to get suggestions from the Tributes.

"Can I just have a separate chariot?"

* * *

Rouge Twain

"Miss? I think I need a doctor," Gator said as he walked in the door, holding his arm out to show me it _wasn't there._

" _EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_ I shrieked, backing into the room and tripping over a table. Gator laughed guiltily and pulled his sleeve back to show his stump.

"Don't worry, it's just a stump," he said. That did _not_ make it better.

"You're horrible," Eren scolded as she helped me up.

" _Thank_ you," I said. "Let's make _you_ look beautiful."

* * *

Puff Auri

"Can I have a yellow outfit? I like yellow," Ally asked.

"Ooh, I like it. Six is a very yellow sort of District," I said. "How do you make a costume based on movement?" I asked.

"Make something move?" Ally suggested.

"Something yellow that moves," I said. "Sounds like you're either a bumblebee or a tennis player."

"I'm too skinny to be a bumblebee," she said.

"Tennis player it is."

* * *

Flora Kettle

This was unfortunate. I couldn't ogle my Tribute if he was thirteen.

"I want to be a superhero doctor firefighter," Marcus said.

"Do they have those in Seven?" I asked. _I thought Seven was lumberjacks._

 _"_ They have firefighters," he said. _Oh, I suppose so. Wood burns like really well._

"You'd be an adorable little firefighter! I should see if we can hook a hose up to the chariot," I said. This would be a welcome change. Lumberjacks were cute, but I also liked firefighters.

* * *

Baste Marinade

I had a most wonderful idea. I'd been waiting months for the Games to come just so I could show it.

"I have a most wonderful idea," I said to Niko, and went on eagerly before he answered.

" _Thread,"_ I said. I paused expectantly.

"What about it?" Niko asked.

"Thread is the base of all textiles. It is the blood that holds Eight together. It is the heart of fashion," I said.

"I guess so," Niko said. "So the costume has a lot of thread?"

"The costume _is_ thread," I said. Niko was not impressed. Philistines.

* * *

Mint Goblet

"Seeds are very in this year. I made you this," I said, holding up a scant miniskirt and belly shirt crusted with seeds.

"It's very... small," Jeanie said.

"It's very chic," I said.

"I've never worn so little in public before," Jeanie said. Rhoda, who was supervising everyone and giving advice, moved closer to her.

"There's going to be a lot of things you don't want to do. Everyone who wins lets go of at least some of them. Some of us more than others," she said. "It's okay if you don't want to. The best of us don't win." Jeanie took the dress, but her face made me sick.

"Don't worry! I can add some more seeds," I said. I didn't want Jeanie to be sad. "More seeds is more chic!"

* * *

Phoebe Vane

It was time to make a statement. For too long, Ten had been associated with nothing but cows. I was going to take that and add a postmodern twist. I was better than Filay. I was above him, just like a bullrider was above a bull. And that was what I would make. A bullrider, but one that illustrated the spirituality of the ritual- the clash between man and nature and the will to dominate a beast. No more would people laugh at Ten. They would feel only awe.

* * *

Creme Brulee

"What's growing right now in Eleven?" I asked. I used to think food just grew there all the time, but I'd recently learned there were seasons and different plants grew at different times.

"It's still rainy weather. Mostly there's just mud," Maren said.

"Mud? I like it! The soil of the land. It's perfect," I said.

"You're going to dress me as mud?" Maren asked.

"No, _with_ mud," I said.

"You've got to be kidding," Maren said.

"No, it's the best idea ever!" I said.

"Oh, have mercy. Just use a lot, okay?"

* * *

Cuisine Martinique

"What's the deal with your partner? I hear he's nuts," I said to Yara as I worked on her makeup.

"I only see him once a year. They always have to drag him to the Reaping," she said.

"Oh, he's a rebel?" I asked. People weren't supposed to resist Peacekeepers.

"I don't think so. I think he's just not quite right," she said.

"Ooh, I wonder what happened. Maybe he got dropped on his head, or maybe his parents were _a little close,_ if you get me," I said.

"He lives in the mines," Yara said.

"Like a _rat?_ I bet he was raised by rats," I said. This kept getting better.


	16. Laurels

**I got a little silly. Sometimes that happens.**

* * *

PRIAM STEED: Good afternoon, everyone! This is ParadeParazzi, bringing you the annual Hunger Games parade!

TALLULAH TULLE: This year, in honor of... well, nothing, really. For no reason at all, we're hosting the First Semi-Annual Hunger Games Laurels. We'll be picking nominations for a variety of categories, and you in the audience will choose the winners! Priam, would you do the honors?

PRIAM STEED: Our categories are:

Best Costume

Silliest Costume

And Worst Costume!

TALLULAH TULLE: Let's see some costumes!

* * *

TALLULAH: What is that supposed to be?

PRIAM: He's that barbarian guy...

TALLULAH: Genghis Khan?

PRIAM: Why would _Attila_ be Ghenghis Khan? It's _Attila the Hun,_ genius!

TALLULAH: I'm a fashionista, not a historian.

PRIAM: Definitely a contender for Most Fashionable.

TALLULAH: Definitely not a contender for Most Unexpected.

* * *

PRIAM: That doesn't have anything to do with One.

TALLULAH: They _are_ the prettiest District. I do love a red dress.

PRIAM: [Grumbles unintelligibly]

TALLULAH: Okay, maybe not Best Use of District, but definitely prettiest.

PRIAM: Cheaters.

TALLULAH: You're just mad you can't pull off ruffles.

* * *

TALLULAH: That's only half a costume. There's no shirt.

PRIAM: This is not a problem.

TALLULAH: He's all covered in scratches. Tigris got her hands on him.

PRIAM: She's an odd one.

TALLULAH: It _does_ fit the warrior theme for Two.

PRIAM: He looks a little embarrassed.

* * *

PRIAM: Oh, my! I like it!

TALLULAH: Ooh, I know this one! Those statues! Tiramisu! Pterodactyl!

PRIAM: Terracotta.

TALLULAH: I was gonne say it!

PRIAM: Both fashionable _and_ a nod to the District. Tigris knows her stuff.

TALLULAH: Now aren't you sorry you called her odd?

* * *

PRIAM: What in the world is that thing?

TALLULAH: They call that a male plug.

PRIAM: Why?

TALLULAH: Because it sticks out, like... [sticks finger in curled fist]

PRIAM: _Ew!_

TALLULAH: I don't make the names.

* * *

PRIAM: That's just a black box. That's not technology.

TALLULAH: Hey, there's a button.

PRIAM: Woops! Technical difficulties.

TALLULAH: We've never had a power outage during a parade before.

PRIAM: Someone's going to get fired.

TALLULAH: What a thing to say!

* * *

TALLULAH: Arrrr, it be a pirate!

PRIAM: You do not win Most Unexpected Presenter.

TALLULAH: Ye'll walk the plank if ye keep talking like that!

PRIAM: Okay, Two-Bladed Tallulah. _Anyway,_ that's a nice idea. Pirates are aquatic _and_ fierce.

TALLULAH: And Eren has booty! [Priam gives her disparaging look] You know I had to say it.

* * *

PRIAM: [Laughs] I love it! I love it! He's a gator named Gator!

TALLULAH: That is a crocodile outfit.

PRIAM: How can you tell?  
TALLULAH: The snout is pointed. Alligators have round noses and their teeth interlock, while crocodiles' teeth protrude.

PRIAM: You don't know who Attila the Hun is but you know that?

TALLULAH: I'm complicated.

* * *

PRIAM: I've seen that one before. It lights up. Wee.

TALLULAH: Five is one of the easier Districts. Sometimes they get lazy.

PRIAM: It's very serviceable.

TALLULAH: Damned with faint praise.

PRIAM: It should have been a nuclear bomb. Now that would be cool.

TALLULAH: I _like_ not glowing, thank you.

* * *

PRIAM: I have a tennis outfit just like that!  
TALLULAH: Do you look that good?

PRIAM: You know it.

TALLULAH: You know what I score this one?

PRIAM: Oh, no.

TALLULAH: A _love!_

* * *

TALLULAH: You can't be serious.

PRIAM: We have a winner... or a loser.

TALLULAH: A gas can. He's a gas can.

PRIAM: With the finest little pointy yellow spout hat.

TALLULAH: Light him on fire. It will look better than this.

PRIAM: Fashion is life or death for Tallulah.

* * *

PRIAM: A train conductor? From Six? Groundbreaking.

TALLULAH: Pump the brakes on that one.

PRIAM: Just once I'd like to see one dressed as a train.

TALLULAH: They could partner up and be front and caboose.

PRIAM: Better than last year.

TALLULAH: Anything's better than last year.

* * *

PRIAM: Seven is logs, right?

TALLULAH: Yeah, that's right.

PRIAM: So why is Marcus a firefighter?

TALLULAH: Wood burns, I suppose.

PRIAM: So they _do_ need firefighters, I suppose.

TALLULAH: I don't know what to feel about this. He's adorable, though.

* * *

TALLULAH: This one is better. They always do trees, but this one's an actual dress that just _looks_ like a tree.

PRIAM: And it's not so uncomfortable. She can move around.

TALLULAH: That bark looks kind of yummy.

PRIAM: Yeah, it looks like chocolate.

TALLULAH: If they dressed me in that I'd be naked by the time I rode out.

PRIAM: There is no shame when it comes to chocolate.

* * *

TALLULAH: How do they mess up textiles so badly?

PRIAM: It's just thread! I don't believe this. He looks like a hula dancer!

TALLULAH: It's not even a pretty color palette.

PRIAM: I award it no points. God have mercy.

TALLULAH: It boggles the mind.

PRIAM: Whoever made it has no mind.

* * *

PRIAM: That's better than the last one.

TALLULAH: It's made of normal textiles, like a normal person made it.

PRIAM: Just by comparison, it looks like the best thing here.

TALLULAH: It gives me hope for Eight.

PRIAM: Let's hope the Tributes do better than the stylists.

TALLULAH: They only have one Victor so far.

* * *

PRIAM: It's like last year! But Jeanie doesn't look all embarrassed. She's loving it!

TALLULAH: I think she's faking.

PRIAM: What do you mean she's faking?  
TALLULAH: A lady can tell these things. We fake smile a lot.

PRIAM: Not with me, right?

TALLULAH: Oh, never.

* * *

TALLULAH: Burlap is never a good look.

PRIAM: It celebrates the workers of Panem.

TALLULAH: I think they're just lazy.

PRIAM: It's not like anyone cares about Nine anyway. They never win.

TALLULAH: They're not even bothering anymore.

PRIAM: Can't blame them. Hope that sack isn't too heavy.

* * *

PRIAM: Oh dear, let's see what Phoebe did this time.

TALLULAH: It's a bullfighter, I think.

PRIAM: I don't remember them wearing weird streamers and face paint.

TALLULAH: It's called art, look it up.

PRIAM: Phoebe and art are like oranges and Venus.

TALLULAH: That doesn't even make any sense.

* * *

PRIAM: What are those words? "Pencil". "Cow". "Dormitory".

TALLULAH: What is this, some postmodern garbage?

PRIAM: Of course, it's Phoebe.

TALLULAH: She better be careful. She almost made sense.

PRIAM: Maybe it's a story.

TALLULAH: So Ethel is a pencil-cow who lives in a dormitory.

* * *

PRIAM: _Lettuce_ take a look at this one.

TALLULAH: Ha ha.

PRIAM: I can hardly be _leaf_ it.

TALLULAH: HA HA.

PRIAM: They really know about _dressing_ Tributes in Eleven.

TALLULAH: [Groans]

* * *

TALLULAH: Don't even-

PRIAM: It's _berry_ pretty!

TALLULAH: Mercy.

PRIAM: Don't be _frude._

TALLULAH: Sanctuary.

PRIAM: Not even a ch _huckle?_

* * *

PRIAM: Twelve doesn't make straitjackets.

TALLULAH: I don't think that's part of the costume.

PRIAM: Or the leash.

TALLULAH: I could have done without the black face paint.

PRIAM: That's the only accurate part.

TALLULAH: It's still scary.

* * *

TALLULAH: I can't blame Twelve. There's not much to work with.

PRIAM: They have coal. The costume is coal.

TALLULAH: Yara is a little cutie though.

PRIAM: They seem to get all the young Tributes in the outer District.

TALLULAH: Well yeah, the inner District tr- _volunteer._

PRIAM: Yeah. Volunteer.

* * *

TALLULAH: Now it's your turn! We'll be passing out ballots momentarily. Fill them out and make your voice heard! While you do, we'll enjoy a short message from our sponsors.

* * *

COMMERCIAL BREAK:

 _Narcissus Mirrors! So clear you'll never want to look away!_

 _*music* To look your best in high society, use some oil of Aphrodi-ite!_

 _*music* Bacchus beer, Bacchus beer! Get ready for a party with Bacchus Beer!_

* * *

PRIAM: The votes are in! Let's take a look at the first round of Hunger Games Laurels! Tallulah, would you go first?

TALLULAH: Oh, thank you. I'm flattered. Our first category is Most Unexpected Costume. The winner is... _Aran Cooper!_ For better or for worse, I suppose.

PRIAM: Let's read this envelope... Most Inconvenient Costume! And the winner is... _Laicao Dust!_ Since it is literally a restraint.

TALLULAH: I have Best Use of District. The lucky winner is... _Chrome Cabello_! _!_ Oh, I was hoping she'd win.

PRIAM: Prettiest Costume, eh? Aaaaand the winner iiiiiis... _Jayden Chadsey_! To no one's surprise.

TALLULAH: The Laurel for Strangest Costume goes to... _Niko Lafont!_ You don't say.

PRIAM: Ooh, Most Fashionable Costume! This year's prima fashionista is... _Jayden Chadsey again!_ A double winner!

TALLULAH: I was hoping I'd get this one! The Laurel for Silliest Costume goes to... _Tillian "Gator" Voyage!_ A well-deserved victory.

PRIAM: It's either Best or Worst... Best! Jackpot! This year's Laurel for Best Costume goes to... _Attila Attard!_

TALLULAH: That leaves me with the _booby_ prize! The bottom of the barrel Laurel- ew, that's a tongue twister- goes to... _Niko Lafont!_ May he rest in peace.

[WILD APPLAUSE]

* * *

TALLULAH: So ends the first in a long, illustrious line of glorious awards. We'd stick around and socialize, but we have an after-party to get to.

* * *

 **It's Oscar season, so I did an Oscars riff, even though I dislike the Oscars for a multitude of reasons. This was fun, though. Polyphemus will still host some years, but it's fun to change things. I already have plans for new categories next time.**

 **I'm doing a collaboration with Jayman, my sister Silver, and Tracelyn at** LSJLSaints. **It's an SYOT, so send stuff there if you're interested. I don't think it will conflict with this, since I'm only doing a quarter of the writing.**


	17. Careers

**A lot of people wanted a longer POV to understand characters, so here's a 2600 word behemoth chapter.**

* * *

Attila Attard

Day one was simple. I focused on something a lot of Careers overlook: deadly animals. That bit One in the butt a few years back with Karyssa. It was important to be able to tell a normal snake from a snake that could kill you by looking at you. I learned a lot of neat things about snakes and bugs, which would be useful if I got _really_ hungry. I also learned how to derive poison from a dart frog, which could definitely be useful.

Day two was even more unconventional. What I had in mind was a swap. I'd find some outlier kid of offer to train him in weapons in return for him showing me some survival stuff. The kid wouldn't get good enough to be a threat in a week of training, and I'd learn more if I learned from someone who depended on that stuff for survival.

I lessened the risk of training an outlier even further when I chose who I would train. Even with a year of training, Marcus still wouldn't be a danger. I could pick him up like a sack of potatoes. Also, he was just too nice. He was the kind who would offer a hand if his opponent tripped.

"Hey, kid. Want to learn something really cool?" I asked when I found him at the agility station.

"What is it?" he asked eagerly. He didn't seem scared at all. I was just another Tribute to him.

"Come on," I said, and I took him to the throwing weapons station.

"Want to learn how to throw ninja stars?" I asked.

"Yeah!" he said. I spent the next half hour teaching him, and by the end, he was actually pretty good. He was having a great time, too, and it was infectious. I made a note to let someone else kill him at the Bloodbath. He was a cool little dude.

"Could you show me some plants? We don't have many in One," I said.

"I know tons of plants," Marcus said proudly. We sat by the plants station and he started sorting them out.

"Any plant with a shiny leaf is probably poisonous. And it might be poison ivy, too, so be careful," he said. "White and yellow berries are bad, but black and blue ones are okay."

"There are rules like that?" I asked. I'd thought it depended on the plant.

"Lots of them. Don't eat plants with white sap, spines, three leaves, plants that smell like nuts, or plants with flowers that look like umbrellas," Marcus said. "Except dandelions. They have sap but you can still eat them."

 _Don't underestimate outliers,_ I noted to myself. Sometimes our instructors at the Academy said something like that, but it was always halfhearted and slightly amused. We were _Careers,_ after all. Outliers were nothing. I'd learned something more important than plants from Marcus, although the plants were also helpful. Even a little kid could know a lot.

* * *

Jayden Chadsey

I already knew what I needed to know. I'd trained in the Academy for years, and I'd remembered to spend a little time on the less glamorous things like survival. Trying to learn something new now would just muddle me up. The thing for me to do was to maintain my exercise regimen and take care of myself.

There was plenty of workout equipment in the training room. I started with stretches to warm up and then ran a swift mile around the track, focusing on stance and not speed. Abdominal exercises seemed more cosmetic than practical, but tough stomach muscles could save a life in a fistfight. Internal organs were soft and could be ruptured even by a punch. I'd been doing crunches daily for years, and I tried to do five more every month. I was up to 300 in one setting. My stomach burned when I was done, but it was a good burn. Next, I did lunges around the track while punching the air with weighted wrists. A Career's only weapon in the end was her body. It had to be perfectly sharpened.

Lunchtime didn't stop my fitness routine. All Careers knew to eat well and we did a lot of carb-loading, but I took things farther. I'd learned something from last year's candyland fiasco. It was likely I wouldn't get a lot of vitamins in the Arena, and I was preparing beforehand. I'd been chugging milk ever since I got to the Games center. Calcium meant strong bones, and extra calcium could be stored in the bones for later. Even though it wasn't my favorite, I picked fish for lunch. It had omega-3 fats and B vitamins, both of which were important for muscle health. As I ate, I got to talk with my allies.

"We better keep an eye on the outliers. I spent some time with Marcus, and that boy knows a ton," Attila said. He continued hesitantly, "I kind of like that kid. Whoever kills him, you should make it quick."

"There's not really any need to kill him at the Bloodbath. I know we're expected to be bloodthirsty and all, but we should focus on pragmatics. We should be organized and go after the biggest threats," Chrome said.

"I like that," Hero said. Only Gator didn't say anything. He knew he was barely allowed into the alliance, and he didn't want to change our minds.

The more I heard, the more I liked our group. We were a levelheaded, practical bunch. Careers were often called cruel or egotistical, but we were just in it to win.

* * *

Hero Nolan

"Did you say you learned to make frog poison?" I asked Attila as we finished lunch.

"Yeah, it's easier than I thought," he said.

"Can you show me some of that? I use blowguns sometime. It would be good if I could make my darts poisonous," I said.

"Sure," he said.

I hadn't even known we had a frog station. It was part of the hunting section, but the frogs got a separate table manned by a man who looked a little like a frog himself. He lit up with excitement when he saw us coming. The frogs must not have been very popular.

"Can you show us the poisonous ones again?" Attila said.

"Of course," the man said. He gestured toward a row of cages full of brightly colored frogs. "The bright ones are always dangerous. All bright animals are dangerous."

"How do you get the poison out?" I asked, peeking through a glass cage at a blue frog with black spots.

"It's on the skin. You only have to touch them," the man said. I drew back quickly, even though there was glass between us.

"Scared?" Attila teased.

"I don't want to die by frog," I said. I turned to the instructor. "What do the different poisons do?"

"This one gives you cramps," he said, pointing to a black one with yellow stripes. "This one causes convulsions and death," he said about one that looked like a strawberry.

"What about this one?" I asked. The frog in question was banana yellow. It was looking back at me with a most amusing expression of curiosity.

"That one causes muscle relaxation," the instructor said. "First it causes numbness, then progressive muscle relaxation. Eventually the heart is relaxed to the point of cardiac arrest."

"So you just kind of fall asleep?" I asked.

"More or less," the intructor said. "To get the poison, it helps to hold the frog near a fire. Just enough to get it warm so it sweats more poison.

 _I like that,_ I thought. That sounded like it didn't hurt at all. For someone who wanted to win while conversely disliking killing, it was an ideal solution. I liked that little yellow frog.

* * *

Chrome Cabella

"I don't really want to be here," I confessed to Ava. "It seemed like it was better than being with my father, but it's hardly an improvement. I know it's too late, though. I have to see it through now."

"Do you still want to live?" Ava asked.

"Of course," I said. I couldn't understand why she'd even ask a question like that.

"Sounds like a silly question, doesn't it? But there's a lot of reasons someone might not want to," Ava said.

"Why not? Unless you have a _really_ terrible life," I asked.

"Because you _don't_ have a bad life, even though you think you deserve it. Because you're weak and can't control your own body. Because you take up too much space and you're ugly. Not _you,_ of course. But someone," Ava said.

"Oh. You didn't always want to be here either when it was your turn," I said, finally understanding. She shook her head.

"What got you through it?" I asked.

"I had allies for a while. Even if I didn't think I deserved to live, I thought they did. After that, I think it was the same reason I never got so thin my body failed. It was survival instinct. I didn't want to live, but I didn't want to die, either. Sometimes cowardice makes a Victor," she said.

"I do want to live," I said. "And not only for me. If I live, no one else in my family has to volunteer."

"That sounds like a good reason. If you want to live, focus on that and get your head in the game," Ava said.

"All right," I said. "What should I do for training?"

"You're good at a few things. It would be a good idea to pick the one you're best at and save that for the Arena. The element of surprise usually isn't an option for a Career. I know no one expected the skeleton girl to win the Games," Ava said.

"Why-" I started, but I stopped. It wasn't a nice thing to ask.

"You were going to ask why they let me volunteer if I was so thin, right?" Ava asked. She didn't look mad, so I nodded.

"I was good at hiding it. Chug a bunch of water before a weigh-in, carry rocks in your pockets during training, hunch over so you fill your uniform out better. I hid that, just like you should hide your lack of enthusiasm. And your archery," she said.

To most of us, Victors were hallowed celebrities. To a Tribute, a mentor was a lifeline. It was strange to see Ava as a complex human being. I wondered what more she was hiding.

* * *

Gator Voyage

A human is not a gator. I was good at wrestling animals. I'd never wrestled a human before. By the time the private sessions came around, I had to be good. The Careers barely let me in, and they could still kick me out.

"I have a weird request," I told my wrestling partner. "I need to learn how to get better, so I want to fight you, but every time the Careers look over, can you act like I'm super good and you're getting beaten? I need to look good," I said.

"I'm just here to help you survive. Whatever you need," the man said. We grappled, and I quickly learned it was much harder to fight something with hands that could hold on to things and a body that could twist. I got thrown on a backside a dozen times before I started to learn.

" _Heads up,"_ the assistant whispered. He pretended to adjust his stance as he pointed out Jayden, who was watching as she passed by. We started grappling again and the instructor threw himself down backwards, my body hiding his from her view and preventing her from seeing I'd barely touched him. I sat on top of him as he pretended to struggle wildly.

"Thanks," I said when I was done. I shook his hand with my good one and left to try to learn some other things. On my way, I bumped into the girl from Ten

"Are you a cyborg?" she asked with wide eyes.

"What's a cyborg?" I asked.

"It means you're part robot," she said, pointing at my wooden arm.

"Robots aren't made of wood," I said.

"Are you a pirate then?" she asked.

"If I was a pirate, I'd be rich enough to have a metal arm," I said.

"Did you get bit by a shark?" she asked.

"It was a big mean gator," I said. "I've been trying to find him ever since so I could get my arm back."

"Isn't it all digested?" she asked.

"Gators take years to digest. I knew a little boy that got eaten and three weeks later we found the gator and cut him all open. Little Codd came away with nothing but pruned skin," I said. The girl's eyes got even wider.

"It must have been really smelly in there," she said.

"I bet," I said. "When I get my arm back, I'll have to give it a bath."

* * *

Eren Lindelle

Like most Careers, I already knew the stuff I needed to know about fighting. It was more important for me to learn about my allies. I spent most of the day tailing them at their favored stations, watching them for a few minutes before moving on so they wouldn't think I was trying to learn their fighting styles.

Attila seemed like a cool dude. He wasn't the intended volunteer, which was always interesting. Turned out his dad was dying and he wanted to win to pay for treatment. I'd always thought everyone in One was rich, so that was good to learn. I made a note to send some money his way if I won. I liked Attila.

Jayden was quite the fitness nut. I was able to spend a lot of time with her, since she was practicing meditative breathing techniques and wasn't worried about my spying on that. She said it was good for endurance and lung strength, as well as clarity of thought and concentration. That was something Careers sometimes lacked, so that was a good thing to learn. We gossiped a bit and she confessed that she thought Jayson was the cutest.

"I like muscleheads," she said, with a hint of embarrassment. "Training was a fun time for me."

Hero was an enigma. Why would someone volunteer for the Games if he didn't like killing people? I wasn't overly _fond_ of it or anything, but I knew what winning meant. He was courting danger, and I suspected he'd be the first of us to die. It was a shame, because he was really nice. He just wasn't much of a Career.

I didn't get Chrome. She was above average with her weapons, but she wasn't amazing. It was hard to believe she was the top pick of all the renowned Academy in Two. She didn't seem to want to be here, either. She trained and she practiced, but it was like a chore. I wondered if she didn't have parents who pushed her into this. That was something I couldn't abide. Volunteering was a life-or-death decision. Nobody should factor into that decision but the person making it.

I wasn't sure what the heck happened with Gator. He told me someone else was supposed to volunteer but didn't, and at least that made a little sense. Four must be pretty embarrassed that they ended up with a one-armed boy who had the most hilarious accent I'd ever heard. It was hard to pay attention to what he said because I was trying so hard not to laugh.

Just to make sure I was still sharp and hadn't inexplicably lost my skills, I tried all my weapons out. _Bow and arrow- still average. Spear- good enough. Knife- not my favorite, but I can make it work. Axe- aw yeah._ I faffed around the survival stations until it was closing time, just learning a few essentials so I wouldn't be helpless. It was going to be hard to say what would happen this year. The Career pack was just plain weird.

* * *

 **I rushed home and wrote this right away just to make sure I'd be in time for Lent.**


	18. Jeanie and Maren

Jeanie Clay- D9

The training room was overwhelming. There were so many different stations I could barely count them. Any of them could be the difference between life and death, and I wouldn't have any idea until it was too late.

I ended up at perhaps the most cliche station: edible plants. I knew a few from the fields, and malnutrition could make anyone weaker in the Games. I remembered what happened last year. Even if there was enough food, it might not be the right kind. If I knew enough plants, I wouldn't have to worry about that. People could live off nothing but plants.

Like everyone else, I watched my competition while I pretended not to. The Careers were big and scary, as always. The boy from Twelve had been taken back to his room after upsetting the plants table and making a mess. His partner was at the snares station talking to another girl. She looked like she was crying, and I walked closer to see what was wrong.

 _That other girl is probably helping her,_ I thought. But when I got closer, I saw the other girl was Shinju. She would be the reason the girl was crying. As I got closer, I heard her.

 _"_ Gonna drink it all up, till you're as pale as me," Shinju said. The other girl pretended like she was going to another station, but Shinju followed her.

"I'm gonna live forever, and you'll be part of me," Shinju said. I came up behind them.

"Hey. Why don't you leave her alone?" I said. Shinju turned around and bared her teeth at me. She might have thought she was a scary vampire, but her teeth were as flat as mine.

"Maybe I'll drink yours too," she said.

"Whatever. Go ahead," I said. Dead was dead, whether by vampire girl or Career. Shinju started to slink off, but she made one parting shot.

"I'll drink you slow. It'll taste good when I lick it off your neck," she said.

"Okay," I said. I turned to help the girl, who was wiping her eyes.

"Thank you," she said.

"It's nothing. She's a creep," I said. Now that I saw her better, I remembered the girl was named Yara. She was one of the younger Tributes. Like most years, the odds didn't favor Twelve.

"Excuse me. I'm going to the bathroom," Yara said. I waved as she went. A shadow fell across me, and I thought it was Shinju before I saw her across the room and remembered vampires don't have shadows.

"That was really cool," Maren said.

"She's not as scary as she thinks," I said.

"Maybe you're just braver than you think," Maren said.

"Stick around and we'll find out," I said.

* * *

Maren McRae- D11

It wasn't just Peacekeepers I had a problem with. It was any bullies, and that included Shinju. I didn't see her terrorizing Yara until Jeanie was already on the way, so I kept an eye and got ready to break in if Shinju got violent. Jeanie handled it like a champ, though, and that impressed me.

"You're working on plants?" I asked. It was a common strategy for outliers. We couldn't learn to kill in a week, but we could learn to live.

"I already knew a few," Jeanie said.

"I've been practicing them, too, but also other stuff," I said. "I've been working with the sickles, and also with fire and agility. I want to be well-rounded."

"Sounds like you have everything covered," Jeanie said.

"Knowing too many things means I don't know any of them especially well. If you work on plants, I can just remember the few I know and spend more time on the other things," I said.

"There aren't many people allying this year," Jeanie said.

"I thought the littler kids might band together, but I guess even they know that won't help," I said. "And then there's Laicao and Shinju, who aren't really ally material."

"You mean you don't want Shinju on the team? She can be our intimidation," Jeanie joked.

"I hope she dies in the Bloodbath," I said. Lots of people didn't want to say things like that. We all knew we were all thinking them. I didn't pretend not to think things.

"Hey, did you notice who the Careers were watching?" I asked after a pause.

"They weren't looking at me," Jeanie said.

"And they weren't looking at the little kids either. Usually it seems like they divide up the little ones and argue over who gets to boost their kill counts. I've been watching them, and they've been watching us. Specifically, Jayson, Nassor, Hayden... and me," I said.

"Why's that?" Jeanie asked curiously.

"We're the strongest," I said. "I think they're up to something. Usually the littlest ones die at the Bloodbath and the Careers have to hunt the rest down. I think this time they're dividing up the strongest and leaving the weakest because they're easier to hunt."

"Oh. Sucks to be you," Jeanie said, but she wasn't lighthearted about it.

"Not if I look really weak."

* * *

 **I don't have it confirmed that Jeanie and Maren are allying. Jeanie's submitter sent a request and I knew both that Maren is looking for allies and that the pair is compatible. If the alliance is rejected I'll have that reflected in the chapters and we can treat this like they were just discussing strategy between friends.**

 **I usually write alliance chapters but I don't have many confirmed alliances yet. I would like to point out that Nassor is seeking younger allies and Ally is seeking older allies.**


	19. No Allies Allowed

**I can't read the reviews and see who wants what allies, so I did the ones I knew wouldn't get allies.**

* * *

Laicao Dust- D12

There was food in the other rooms, but there wasn't food in the big room. I'd eaten just a few minutes ago, but that wasn't important. Eating just meant getting energy to find the next food source. I stalked the room like a patrolling Peacekeeper, and the other children moved out of the way as I came by. I smelled something green in the air and followed the scent to a table.

The table was covered with bowls full of leaves. I snatched one and sat underneath the table as I gobbled the leaves. They were lighter and juicier than the leaves I got in the mine, since they'd seen more sunlight.

"Hey, there! What are you doing down there?" the man by the table asked. He bent over and craned his neck to look at me. I scooted back further under the table and kept eating.

"You should be careful. Some of these are poisonous," the man said. He reached under the table and his arm got near my bowl. I clutched it to my chest and growled at him.

"Don't be rude. I just want to help," the man said. He got on his hands and knees and came under the table toward me. I sprang toward him and growled louder. He made a noise and fell on his backside to get away from me.

"Security!" he yelled. Two more pairs of legs appeared beside the table and something yanked my shirt from behind. I squalled and twisted as someone picked me up and the other two men helped carry me out into the hall and to my room. The man carrying me dumped me on the floor and all three of them sprinted out of the room, slamming the door on me when I tried to follow. I pounded the door a few times in case they tried to come back, then settled back into the middle of the room.

A light flashed on the wall, startling me. It was coming from a button over a hole in the wall. I went over to it and looked at it, but I couldn't tell what it was. It started to blink, and I gave it an explorative tap. There was a ding and the bottom of the hole opened up. Another bottom rose up, carrying a plate with a piece of meat on it. I snatched the plate off and ate the meat.

The light was still on, and I touched it again. Another platform came up, this time carrying a bowl of soup. I took that too and drank it while I watched the hole in the wall. As long as the light stayed on, I never had to leave the room again.

* * *

Shinju Matshushita

No one was on the roof at night. Some of the others would have been scared of being so high. For others, it would have been too much of a temptation. I leaned over the edge and looked out at the moonlit night. The air was thin and clear and free from everything that filled the land beneath me. I wished I could feel myself grow smaller and fly away on leathery wings. The night wa where I belonged, and I wished it would last forever.

The Games would start soon, and I wouldn't have to hide anymore. Everyone else was the same as me. They said it was wrong to kill, but they watched us kill each other every year. They didn't try to stop it. They took bets. When that gong sounded, I could run at someone like I'd always wanted, and I would feel their warm blood on my teeth. Finally, I could be what I was meant to be.

 _Monster._ That had been the title of the book I read so long ago, and that was what everyone called me. A monster was something to be afraid of, something that hid in the night. A monster hurt and killed. No one loved a monster, and she wanted no one's love.

Before I was old enough to understand my parents weren't coming back, I used to have dreams. I dreamed of grand adventures and making friends and what I would be when I grew up. I had fantasylands filled with mystical creatures and mysterious worlds. I could spend hours drawing them in the dirt or scratching them under my bed. Before I had nightmares, I had dreams. Before I knew I was alone, I wanted other people to be part of my dreams.

It was good to be a monster. What was feared had no fear. What hurt and killed others wasn't hurt and killed. People were afraid of vampires because they didn't die. If my parents had been like me, they'd still be with me. If I had someone to love me, I might have wanted love.

Monsters of the kind I was going to become weren't born. They were made when another evil attacked them in darkness and turned them into something they weren't before. I started changing years ago, and I wanted to be complete at last. As a vampire, I would be cold and dead. I would be free of the pain and petty emotions I'd been carrying around. I wouldn't have nightmares anymore. I would be someone else's nightmare.

* * *

 **There I go again making it harder to hate the villain. I can't seem to help it.**


	20. The Squirts and Kirsta

**I was going to write some non-alliers when I remembered I did have an alliance. Ally and Yara are seeking Nassor if interested.**

* * *

Kirsta Thales- D6

So much for being a better person. The only way to have any chance of surviving this is to be the worst person I could be.

It was fitting I chose daggers. It was the most personal, painful, and difficult weapon to kill someone with. That wasn't why I chose them- I only chose them because they were the easiest to hold and carry. It still haunted me when I thought about what I knew of daggers. I heard on the news once about a man who stabbed his girlfriend to death after she broke up with him. He stabbed her twenty-eight times, and they said it took her hours to bleed to death. An arrow killed someone like lightning. Daggers ripped the life from someone an inch at a time.

The girls from Eleven and Nine had been talking together for a while. I hope they weren't allying. They were both strong, and they'd be stronger together. They were both stiff competition on their own, and I didn't know if I could kill either. Some of the others were looking for allies as well, but none of them came to me. I was glad about that. I didn't want anyone.

"Always aim for the soft vital spots," the attendant told me, pointing the knife at my stomach. I wondered if that was where the man stabbed the girlfriend, and how soft the flesh felt when he pushed the knife in. I hoped that he hadn't done that at all and had stabbed the hard spots. Maybe then if I stabbed the soft areas, the other guy would die faster.

"The heart is protected by ribs and will be fiercely defended, but it's the best place to hit," the attendant said.

 _Good, because mine must be very small,_ I thought. There were two ways I could go with that information. I could recognize the error of my ways and penitently work to better myself. Or I could embrace it and kill the others before they killed me. It was selfishness versus abnegation. I didn't dwell on it or wallow in guilt. I wanted to live. I hardened my heart.

The dummy in front of me was open and silent. The only thing stopping me from killing it was myself, and I didn't stop. I pulled back the knife the way the attendant told me, with the blade pointed straight out and my arm bent behind it to piston out with maximum power. I shot my arm out like a snake and stuck the knife into the circle that marked the dummy's heart. I felt the rough fabric give way and my knife pushed into the stuffing.

 _It might not be dead yet,_ I thought. I yanked the knife out in something like a panic and stuck it into the stomach in a half-dozen flurried strikes. I kept stabbing even after I knew it would be dead, just in case. I didn't want it to linger like that woman. I didn't want to be like that.

* * *

Ally Tesla- D5

There was something good about being in the Games building. I got to meet people from all over the country. Naturally, Yara and me got together pretty quick, since we were both young and her District partner was really scary. It wasn't even like we introduced ourselves and made friends. We just found each other in the crowd and paired up naturally. Girls of our age did that by habit.

"I love the food here. We usually eat mush in Twelve," Yara said.

"We eat lots of different things in Five, since we're transporting so much stuff and there's usually some surplus. I got to eat Twelve mush once. It was yucky," I said.

"You got that right," Yara said. "Do you ride cars everywhere? We have to walk."

"We don't have a car. Sometimes I ride the bus if there's a special school thing," I said.

"What's a bus?" Yara asked.

"You've never seen a bus? It's a big giant truck that fifty kids can fit in. Usually they're yellow," I said.

"We hardly even have roads in Twelve," Yara said. We were by the first aid station, practicing putting bandages on each other.

"Do you have lots of sisters? Most families in Twelve are small because there's not much food," Yara said.

"I have one sister. She sleeps a lot. She's been really sad lately," I said.

"Do you think she's sick?" Yara asked.

"I don't know what she's so sad about. She used to be happy. It's like she forgot what she was happy about and only remembers the sad things," I said.

"Maybe there's something wrong with her brain," Yara said.

"The doctor said there's something wrong with my brain, since sometimes I don't understand grownups very well. He said I have a developmental disability, but the only other kid I saw who had the same thing couldn't talk and wore a diaper, so I think he might have been wrong," I said.

"You don't wear a diaper?" Yara asked.

"No!" I said. I pulled up my underwear without thinking and showed Yara it was pink and _not_ a diaper.

"Maybe you were a weird baby and that's when he said you were sick. I knew a kid who didn't talk until he was four, but then he was fine," Yara said.

"Yeah, I saw a baby once with a huge head. They were worried he was stupid, but he just had a huge head," I said. I liked being with Yara. Sometimes people were confusing when they said one thing and meant another, especially grownups. Yara wasn't like that. She was a normal kid, like me.

* * *

Yara Warsaw- D12

Being with one ally made the Games half as scary. I hoped we could find another ally, hopefully someone older. There were two of us, but we were still pretty little. So far the youngest person to win the Games was fifteen. I was only three months away from being fourteen, but that was still a lot younger.

Being in the Games building was like an entirely new world. In Twelve, there was my house, the mines, the market, and school. There really wasn't much else, and it was hard to learn new things. Here, there was literally everything. I could go to the computer in my room and ask what the most popular dress style in One was and it would tell me right away. We didn't even _have_ computer in Twelve. I thought it was magic at first. I felt like I lived in the future when I was in the Capitol. It was like a science fiction story. I'd never imagined it was so amazing here. Capitolites must know everything.

Ally came with me when I went back to the snare station, in case Shinju came back to scare me again. She was a bully, and bullies didn't like being outnumbered. Ally tried to help be my victim for my snares, but I ended up getting tangled along with her. I left the next snares empty and those ones turned out better.

That night, we camped out together in Ally's room. We made a blanket tent and huddled underneath it, watching fashion shows on the wall television and eating tons of food from the wall cubby. It was the coolest thing ever just to have as much food as we wanted, and being in the crazy fancy room was even better, but it was still foreboding.

"Let's make plans for what happens if one of us wins," I said.

"Yeah, I guess we should," Ally said.

"If you win, can you send my parents food every once in a while? And buy a porch swing for my mom? She always said she knew she'd be rich if she had a porch swing," I said.

"I'll send a really pretty one with that pretty red wood like the table downstairs," Ally said. "And if you win, can you send my parents enough money that they don't have to work anymore and we can send Abby to the doctor and he can fix her so she's not sad? I have to be happy all the time for her, even when I'm really not," Ally said.

"Okay," I said. I'd thought Ally really was happy. She was a good faker. We both were, since we were pretending not to be scared.


	21. Loners and a Peacock

Jayson Dable- D11

Naturally, I was at the weight-lifting station. I already knew a handful of plants from my work, and the weight-lifting station was the most fun. I knew the filming didn't start in the Arena. The Capitolites were watching us already, and if they saw how strong I was, I'd get sponsors more valuable than any weapons skills I could get in a week. And the other Tributes would know not to mess with me.

My ears started to burn, and I knew someone was watching me. I peeked to either side, trying to see who it was without giving it away. I spotted the two little allies watching from across the room. Their eyes got wide with every weight I lifted, and they lifted arrows above their heads while miming strain as they pretended to lift along with me.

Every boy knew there was only one thing to do when girls were watching, even little girls like those two. I went straight to the biggest weight and hefted it swiftly, ignoring the strain and then pain as I stretched my muscles farther than I wisely should have. One of the girls laughed and the other raised her hands over her head triumphantly. I held the weight above my head until my arms trembled so much I was afraid they might notice. I dropped it with a thump and pointed finger guns at them.

"Piece of cake," I said as I walked closer. They whispered to each other until I got close enough to converse. "What are you two ladies up to?"

"We're looking for allies," one of the girls said.

"Big strong allies. But you're _really_ big and strong, so you probably wouldn't want to ally with us," the other said.

"It just so happens I'm looking for big strong allies, too," I said. I pretended to look around the room. "Well, here's some right in front of me!"

"Us?" one of the girls said, and she giggled with her hands in front of her mouth.

"You lifted that arrow all the way over your head," I said. "You must be bodybuilders." I picked up the arrow and bent over under its pretended weight, eventually dropping to the ground and panting.

"See? You're the strongest allies ever. Id be stupid not to ally with you."

* * *

Ethel Bulhera- D10

The Games would be a really cool story if they weren't real. A few years ago one of the Tributes wanted to write a story about the Games. I wasn't planning to do that, since we already knew what the Games were like, but I could definitely get some ideas. Whatever Arena I went to might be new and could make a cool story world, and there might be mutts in there like monsters from fairy tales.

I could hardly decide what sort of story the Games were. There was tragedy for the people who died, horror for the people who killed them, adventure for the surviving in the wilderness, and science fiction with the mutts. I'd always wondered how they did that. If they could make animals out of thin air, why couldn't they make lots of food for everyone?

That was what gave me the idea. The Capitol could make animals out of thin air, and it could bring people back to life. They could bring my family back to life if I won. They probably had samples of the Tribute's DNA, but they could bits from me, because I had the same DNA as my family.

 _They could really come back._ Sometimes in my dreams I saw my family, but I never thought it could be real. Stories didn't come true. But I started living in a story the moment I got sent to the Hunger Games. Anything could happen here if the Gamemakers wanted it. I could see my family again. It was better than any story I'd ever read.

I already wanted to win, since I didn't want to die, but now I had a mission. For a Victor, it would be possible to bring back a family. The entire country could see a cute little girl reunited with her family because of the mercy of the Capitol. I had to get back. I had to do everything right- I was only a small girl, and I didn't have many skills. If everything didn't go perfectly, I would die. I needed to say the exact right things and get sponsors and use what they gave me perfectly. I had one shot at this.

The first thing to do was get a good private session score. I'd been working with camouflage, and it was going well. I had to practice non-stop until the minute I walked into the session room. If I was perfect at one thing, they would think I was better at other things. I'd already worked a little with survival things, so I could afford to specialize. I had to make a masterpiece for those judges. My entire family depended on it.

* * *

Aran Cooper

No one really died in the Games, but I had to be ready just in case. It was a show, and they liked people who played their parts. I picked the running track, since there weren't any other people on it. Some of the others, especially the Careers, made me nervous. They were very enthusiastic about their roles, and I was worried they might forget it wasn't real. I practiced running long distances, so I could run far away during the Bloodbath and not hear all that noise. I ran until my lungs burned, but I was still on the same track. I never got any farther.

The Gamemakers liked it when we used weapons, so I practiced with a sword. It was heavy and hard to swing, so I didn't think I'd use it much in the Arena. When I was done running, I left the training room to see what else was in the Capitol. There was a giant glass elevator that went up the side of the building. I got in and stood at the edge, trying to see how it worked. It seemed to be moved by magnets. I'd always wondered if we could use magnets with the same charge to raise things into the air, since I'd seen magnets float because they repelled each other. The elevator raised up beside the building like a bird, and I got out at the top floor.

I'd wanted to see how things moved around in the Capitol, but there wasn't much inside the building. There was a staircase that cycled around on a track so people didn't have to walk, which just seemed lazy to me. It was unnerving, too, since I couldn't help but imagine getting my foot stuck in the crack at the bottom and getting sucked into the machinery. I rode down one, then ran up the wrong way when no one else was on it. It was like running on the track, but harder since it wa uphill. It must have been very good exercise.

Before getting Reaped, I always thought of the Capitol as some far away fairyland. It never seemed real, and it was like an abstract. Now that I was here, I was starting to resent them more. They had everything here, from food I'd never imagined to glass elevators. They were so lazy they didn't even walk down stairs. They should be sharing it with the rest of Panem. My parents always told me a leader led by example. The Capitol expected us to live on nothing and work like dogs when they sat around eating chocolate all day. They should stop wasting money on the Hunger Games and use it so the people wouldn't be hungry in the first place.


	22. Seven and Eight

**I forgot to tell you all I'm going to visit my Grandpa in Mexico. I'll be back in three days though, so it shan't be long.**

* * *

Jodie Jackson- D7

Seeing the littler children in the training room made me sick. Ever since I was little, I'd wanted to have children of my own. I played with sticks and balls and rocks like other kids, but I also made a lot of dolls with those sticks and rocks. It was very important to me that children be taken care of, and I wanted to do that myself with my own family. It made me sick to see the other children here because of what I had to do to them. It made me sick and it also made me think maybe I wasn't who I thought I was. I wouldn't have been a good mother after all, the way I was thinking about those kids. I didn't want to kill them myself, but in my heart, I wanted to be the one that lived.

I had been dividing my time between the survival stations and the weapons stations since I entered the training room. I told myself I would only use my weapons against the Careers or people that attacked me, and I felt like I really meant it. Even then, it was too horrible to use the scarier weapons like the maces and swords. I saw a table covered in tongs of leather and went there to see what they were.

"Do you strangle people with these?" I asked. I didn't see why there needed to be a whole station for that, or why the leather strips were tied together in clusters of three with rocks at the ends.

"No, these are bolos. You throw them at people," the attendant said. "They wrap around you like an octopus."

"Around your neck?" I asked. That was almost worse than the maces and swords. Out of nowhere, a clinging coil of ropes would wind itself around your neck, and you'd spend the next three minutes tearing at it until you weren't moving at all.

"The neck or the legs," the attendant said. _The legs?_ That I could get behind. That would be perfect. I could throw it at people chasing me and they would trip and I could run away. I wouldn't have to kill anyone. If they got too close and nothing else would work, I could theoretically strangle them after all. Or maybe I couldn't. It was hard to hold someone that long, both physically and mentally.

The attendant helped as I practiced throwing the bolos. They were light and the rocks made them go a long way. It was easy to hit people, since if any part hit, the other parts coiled automatically at the sudden stop. It was something I could learn in a week, unlike most of the weapons. Best of all, no one had to die. At least at my hands.

* * *

Marcus Henry Wilberforce- D7

They weren't working. I kept throwing the knives just the way Attila showed me, but they weren't going any closer to the center. I was better than I had been when I started, but I'd gottena little better and then stopped entirely. No matter how many I threw, I was staying the same.

I made an annoyed noise as I picked another knife out of the outer rings of the target. I only had five more days to get good, and I didn't want it to take that long. With just one day practicing with Attila, I'd gone from not even reaching the target to hitting it almost every time. By now, I should have been hitting the center. I was so frustrated I wanted to break the knife.

 _Why isn't it hitting? It's crooked,_ I thought, and I held the knife in front of my face. It looked straight, but it couldn't have been. _Something's wrong with it. I keep trying but nothing ever changes._

"Wow, you're not very good at that," a girl said from behind me. I turned and saw a Tribute near my age watching me throw. My cheeks got hot and I wanted to hit her, but I didn't, because it wasn't right to hit.

"Go away!" I yelled, and she backed away with big eyes. "I'm doing fine!" I was horrified when tears filled my eyes, and I turned away and threw a knife wildly at the target so she wouldn't see me smear them away. I threw all the other knives at the table and wanted to scream when only half of them hit. I ran beside her and across the room with my head down, stopping before the door. I didn't want to be a baby and run back to my room, so I snuck behind one of the stations to pull myself together.

 _Stupid knives. I can't do anything right. I'm gonna die in the Bloodbath._ I sulked another few minutes and let my anger dissipate, then got back up. _I'll move to a different station. I just need to try something else._

Even though I already knew I was good at it, I went to the agility station. I didn't have to practice that. It came naturally. If the sponsors saw that they might send stuff, and the others might want to ally. It was fun to run around on the course. Sometimes I got frustrated and let my anger get the best of me, but then I kept going and carried on. I was only human.

* * *

Niko Lafont- D8

 _Karma's a witch._ I didn't stop them from getting whipped and nobody stopped me from getting Reaped. I was so afraid I'd lose my friends that I'd do anything for them. None of them did anything for me. I was all alone in the training room.

The spear was a simple and defensive weapon. I liked how long it was. That meant I could keep the other person far away. I just wished I had someone else to practice with me. I saw the boy from Eleven had allied with the two little girls and inched closer, pretending I was just training.

"You guys are allied, huh?" I asked the girl from Five.

"Yeah, me and Yara allied right away, and then Jayson joined in," she said.

"They make me look even bigger," Jayson added.

"That's great. That'll be really helpful in the Arena," I said. "It's good for outliers to ally. It's hard enough to fight one Career, and they always stick together."

"Yeah. I hope we're all close together at the Bloodbath," Yara said.

"You should look for more allies. Then you'll be even harder to fight," I said. Yara and Jayson were tying knots, so only Ally heard, and she nodded politely. I didn't want to overstay my welcome, so I moved on.

"Wow, what's that?" I asked when I came to where Nassor was making some sort of contraption.

"It's like a really simple battery," he said. "I just need something with a little current so I can easily start a fire."

"I made a fire once with a magnifying glass," I said.

"Takes forever, doesn't it?" Nassor asked.

"Do you have any allies yet?" I asked.

"Not yet. I'm not _really_ sure I want any, but it's a smart idea, you know?" he asked.

"Yeah, definitely," I said. _I definitely know that._

I went back to the spears after that. My subtle hints may or may not bear fruit, but it was more likely if I had something to offer, like spear skills. I kept pushing imaginary people away while I waited for real people to come closer.

* * *

Cavender Jones- D8

I was not a very large or strong girl. I was more likely to wound someone than kill them, so I had to make sure the wound was fatal. People said it was the coward's way, but people who called people cowards tended to be big and strong. For me, poison was just the smart way.

No one would expect a girl like me to kill anyone with a knife. They'd expect a few scratches at worst, and that's probably what they would get. I wasn't spoiling for a fight either, so I'd run as soon as I could. All I would have to do was wait while the poison on those tiny scratches did the killing for me.

"Around here, the most poisonous plants are poppy and bloodroot," the assistant said, and I peered closely at the leaves she held up. "Of course, the Arena might be anywhere, but we have to start somewhere." I wrote the names down on the notepad I'd brought to training and drew a sketch of the leaves. Earlier, I'd watched some of the Careers training with daggers. I saw the best way to fight with a knife was with straight, deep stabs. A girl flailing around with shallow scratching slashes would look like she didn't know anything, and they wouldn't know how dangerous it was until it was too late.

It scared me how I was already planning to kill people. I'd read stories about people descending into savagery as soon as things got dangerous. The Capitol seemed to think the Districts were always savage, and I was certainly acting like it. It scared me even more that the thought of killing someone excited me a little. I didn't want to do it, and it was so wrong it disgusted me, but if I actually killed someone, it would sort of make me feel strong. Not everyone was strong enough to kill someone. It disgusted me more than it excited me, though, so I didn't feel like a monster. Everyone wondered what it was like to kill someone. It wasn't bad unless we actually wanted to.

A lot of Tributes went into the Arena swearing not to kill anyone. Some of them ended up keeping that promise and others didn't. I never even made the promise. People were selfish. That was our nature. If me or someone else had to die, I wanted it to be someone else. I didn't know any of these people. It wasn't fair to expect me to die for them. We all had lives to live, and we all just wanted to live them. I had things I wanted to see and so much more I wanted to do. I wanted to see all of Panem. I didn't want it to end after one trip to the Capitol. We all wanted the same thing, and that made us all equally guilty.

* * *

 **I left my passport in a safety deposit box, so I'll go tomorrow instead of meeting my sister a day early. Bonus chapter for you!**


	23. Leftovers

**Surprise! I wrote this at midnight during my nightly Fear Factor session.**

* * *

Jack Balt- D3

I did _not_ go to the electronics station, as some might have expected Shinju didn't either, since she went to the daggers station and generally creeped everyone out. Some of us were starting to wonder if she was really human. One year there was a girl who turned into a mutt, and one year the littler kids thought two of their allies were angels. We lived in a strange world, and even Three wasn't always entirely logical.

Instead of electronics, I was working with a sword. The weight and movements were similar to the pickaxe I used in the cobalt mines, and the weapon was visually striking enough to ward off all but the Careers. I was no master with it, but I wasn't terrible. In a week, I could get good enough to look better than I was.

I was almost jealous looking at the electronics. I hadn't been able to stay in school long enough to know them very well. Maybe if I had, I would have conformed to the stereotypes after all. Some people did, and that was fine. It just wasn't ideal to assume. Jealousy didn't change the past, though. My skills were manual and lowbrow, and they were what I had to work with. I could pine after skills I didn't have, or I could work to survive with the ones I did.

As I practiced, I tried to single out the biggest threats. Obviously that was the Careers, but they weren't one unit. There were six of them, and some would be worse than others. This year, the girls looked to be the worse. Attila spent one day playing with an outer-District boy, indicating higher than normal empathy levels for a Career. Hero was acting like his name, helping his allies wherever he could and not harassing the outliers like Careers liked to do. Gator, meanwhile, was a small fish in a big pond, just trying to stay afloat and keep the Careers happy. Chrome was giving off a vibe like she was here to not die instead of kill, leaving Eren and Jayden as the killers. Platforms were chosen entirely by luck, but if I wasn't by either of those two, I had a good chance of surviving the Bloodbath.

 _A good chance._ What a chilling thought. Suppose the chance was 70%. That meant I had a thirty percent chance of _dying_ in a few days. I wouldn't play those odds for a million dollars. I considered a thirty percent chance of death a good chance. I didn't have to be good at math to know how scary that was.

* * *

Nassor Doyle- D9

I wished I was from Three. I could have been talking to Acee, the smartest person in Panem, or Wiress, the woman who actually built a gun in the Games. We could have built stuff together. With all three of us, we could have built a nuclear reactor or something.

My training was made more difficult by the fact that I was stressing over a lot of different things. The Games was one, of course. I kept thinking about different ways the Bloodbath could go down and tiny things that could get me killed. I was also nervous about the interview. My mouth didn't work quite right, and I sounded like an idiot when I said "pacific" instead of "specific". I made up a script in my head and kept going through it to make sure I wouldn't stumble over anything. Lastly, there were the crowds. It was hard enough talking with one person. I had to speak loudly and clearly enough for the entire audience, and microphones were only another risk for feedback and distortion.

There was something I hadn't told anyone yet, and something I didn't plan to tell Seutonius. A year ago, I dated a girl named Henna. Things didn't work out, but oddly enough, she took up with my brother Arik. I was hurt at first, of course, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. She hadn't been trying to hurt me, she was just more compatible with him. The important thing was that she started to show her pregnancy soon after. Arik thought it was his, but Henna thought it was mine. I was ecstatic when she told me. My father left us all when we were born, and I'd always wondered how I could be so bad when I was just a little baby that my own father didn't want me. I'd wanted to have a son of my own and love him the way he deserved, but Henna wanted the boy to know Arik as a father. It broke my heart to be nothing but an uncle, but this could change things. If I won, I could give my son a better life, even if he didn't know exactly who I was. It was giving me more determination to win, and it was so important to me that it was making me nervous and hindering my training. It was hard to stay rational when my son was on the line.

I looked down at the firemaking tool I'd made. All I had to find was some wire, some salt, and a cup that could hold water. The electricity generated would be enough to make a spark, and that was enough to make a fire. I tried it out, and the first few times it didn't work. I wanted to throw it away, but I kept trying. On the fifth time, it sparked.

 _It's not good enough,_ I thought. It was good to be able to make fire, but it wasn't good enough. If I was cold or frozen, that might not be fast enough. I might not have the dexterity to keep trying. It didn't matter how smart I was or how good I was at making things. It only mattered if it was good _enough._

* * *

Acer Packard- D5

Chrome was holding a sword and moving like a tiger. Attila was throwing knives, and they kept hitting each other in the targets with metallic tings. Jayden punched a dummy so hard with her brass knuckles that stuffing came pouring out. Hero was throwing knives at the same moment Attila did, trying to knock his out of the air and sometimes succeeding. Eren was throwing axes across the room and splitting dummies' heads open, and Gator was wrestling two people at once with one hand. I was starting to think volunteering was not a good idea.

 _Okay, I screwed up. Moving on,_ I thought. I was here now. It wasn't over yet. I could still do this. I just had to play to my strengths and not screw up again. _What are my strenghts? I don't get lonely. I'm not scared of much. I'm smart. I'm good at talking. I'll make the best of that during my interview._

I also needed to learn more strengths. I scanned the training stations and landed on the hunting station. Hunting was both defensive and offensive. I could learn to keep myself fed and also learn to fight people who attacked me. It was the smartest use of my time.

"I'd like to learn to hunt," I said.

"I thought as much," the attendant said pleasantly. He pointed at a table full of weapons. "Any preference?"

"Spears, maybe," I said. They were easiest to make with things I could find in the Arena. The attendant picked up a spear and a remote, which he clicked. A projector screen lit up on the wall, showing different animals and icons.

"Woodland, tropical, arboreal, tundra, marine, or desert?" the attendant asked.

"How about woodland?" I said. He tapped a button and the screen shifted to show different animals.

"Rabbit, please," I said. Rabbits were common. There would be a lot of rabbits, and they weren't big enough to hunt me back.

"The most important thing to hunting rabbits is staying quiet. If you can get close enough to hit them, you can probably kill them," the attendant said. He pulled up a picture of rabbit signs and showed me how to discern rabbit tracks, fur, and dropping. Then he pulled up a video showing a man hunting a rabbit with a spear.

"This hunt took place in an artificial forest made especially for Games training," the man said. "Usually rabbits are not hunted with spears, after all."

After the video was done, I replayed it a few times and stood beside the screen, imitating the hunter with my spear. I practiced throwing as hard as I could, since my spear would probably be blunt.

"You're not allowed to sponsor, right?" I asked the attendant.

"Afraid not, bud," he said with a smile.

"How about your friends?"

* * *

Hayden Ellis- D10

A cleaver was a horrible way to kill someone. It was right in the name- you had to cleave the flesh from the bones. We only used it on dead things back home, and cleaving flesh from bones was exactly what we did with it. The knife was long enough to slice muscles neatly in one piece to preserve the flavor, and strong enough to crunch through bone to reveal hidden flesh. It was the only weapon I know. I didn't feel guilty about surviving, but I wished I'd been born in Seven.

Other Tributes were gathering into alliances around the room. _What a great idea,_ I would think as I saw two of them start to make a plan. _I'll make_ friends _with someone I'll end up killing._ Niko had approached me earlier and tried to hint himself into an alliance, but I shot him down. I flirted with the idea of keeping him around as a shield, but he wasn't capable enough. I didn't need someone weighing me down. There was no room for sentimentality or mercy in the Games. There was a reason the Careers usually won.

For most of the Games, I planned to improvise, but the Bloodbath could use some thinking about. I was one of the bigger and older Tributes this year. There was a good chance there would be little kids or meeker Tributes around me, and it might be worth it to risk running in a bit. Not to the Cornucopia, like some idiot did every year, but a few feet in to grab water and a knife. If I was armed, just about everyone but the Careers would stay away from me. I didn't plan on trying to kill anyone, though. I just wanted to get my things and go. The Careers would take care of narrowing the playing field.

The more immediate problem was the interview. I was self-aware enough to know I wasn't the cuddliest guy. The Capitol liked cute Tributes or strong Tributes or Careers. I was stronger than they knew, but I wouldn't be able to show that by talking. I wasn't a Career, so that left likeable. It would be like my business deals all over again. I'd have to watch their reaction to every word and tailor myself to their liking. It sounded harder to watch an entire crowd, but crowds usually functioned as a unit. I'd seen enough examples of mass stupidity to know that.

To win the Games, you had to be what the Capitol wanted. They wanted quiet, grateful Victors who gave a good show but didn't kill people cruelly unless they were Careers. They didn't mind cruelty, obviously, but they wanted the people to see that you got ahead in Panem by being meek and not drawing attention to yourself. I wasn't like that. I was more like the Capitolites. I was clever and willing to jump over others to get to the end. The Capitol survived at the expense of others, and they couldn't condemn me for doing the same thing.


	24. Interviews!

**I had Silver upload this while I was in Mexico. Don't I spoil you?**

* * *

Caesar Flickerman

My awkward days were long behind me. I still didn't have my exact persona down yet, but I wasn't the new kid anymore. I was Caesar Flickerman, the second-most recognizable face in Panem. I was starting to figure out how I wanted to do this, too. Seutonius didn't need an angle, since he was genuinely the sweetest and most welcoming man who ever lived. Harley was more cutting- Tributes had to watch out around her. My place seemed to be more in the middle. I wanted everyone to have a good shot, but some people were going to need more help than others.

My first interview was the one I'd been dreading most. "I'm sorry to hear about your father," I said. "This must be very hard for you."

"Yeah, he's been sick so long I'm used to it," Attila said. My face changed even though I tried to hide it, and Attila's face broke my heart as he mirrored my expression.

"I'm so sorry," I said again, so quiet the microphone barely picked it up. Attila looked like a scared little boy.

"He wasn't that sick," he said. I signaled for them to end the interview early as he ran off the stage. I pretended to follow and comfort him, but really I let him be alone while I composed myself for the next interview.

"No jewels today," I commented on Jayden's dress, and I coughed in the middle to hide the crack in my voice.

"Because I'm not just another pretty face," she said. "The Games are about winning, not looking pretty."

"What an original tie," I said about Hero's silver and gold choice.

"It's for my sisters, Eirian and Aurelia," he said. "Here's a picture." He showed the audience a darling picture, assuring himself even more sponsors even though he was clearly just being a big brother.

Chrome's stylist had some ideas about her placing. The lovely lady was wearing a crown similar to Blake's. I pretended to fiddle with my earphone as I wiped my eyes.

"I have what it takes to win and I'm not going to let the others distract me," she said, subtly digging at her more compassionate allies.

"You must be a clever young man," I said to Jack. He shrugged.

"I'm not so special in that department. I have other skills, though. I'm stronger than people expect, and I'm getting to the top my own way," he said.

"I'm going to kill everyone," Shinju said. "I know they're all afraid of me, and they should be." _Okay then._

 _"_ I bet that's an interesting story," I said about Gator's arm. When he spoke, his accent was so hilarious I couldn't help but smile, and the story made it worse.

"I started the fight, so I don't blame the gator. That ornery snapper almost swallowed me up! He was just being a hisser, though. When the others caught him, I had them let him go," he said. As he walked offstage, I saw him wince as he realized compassion was not a good thing to admit.

Eren's blue ball gown looked just like the sea. "I'm going to stay with the pack. They're a good group, and I've made good friends I know will fight with me," she said.

"Capitolites are probably happy they don't have to worry about the Arena, but I bet they wonder what it would be like sometimes. They can participate without any danger if they just send me a few things. They can live vicariously through me, and I'll give them a good show," Acer said. He came here for sponsors and I suspected he left with some.

"Me and Yara made friendship bracelets," Ally said, holding up her wrist to show the rhinestone and crystal beads. "We can't bring them in the Arena since we have tokens, but whoever wins takes them both home afterward." I didn't need to help her at all, and in the meantime, my thoughts wandered back to Attila.

"I hope I don't mess up at the Bloodbath," Aran said, and he laughed awkwardly. "I've been trying to learn some stuff. I guess we'll see."

"I know there's some rumors going around, so let me set you straight," Kirsta said. "I was done with morphling before I got to the Capitol. And if I can break free of addiction, I can do anything."

"I bet there's more here than meets the eye," I said to Marcus. He puffed up like little kids did when adults praised them.

"That's right. I'm little, but there's lots I can do. And I'm as tall as Pray, so I'm not that little," he said.

"I'd let to get home so I can keep helping the poor and making a difference," Jodie said in her flowing pink strapless dress. "Isn't that just about the sappiest thing you ever heard?"

Niko had gold and silver streaks in his afro, which was certainly striking. "I'm currently looking for some allies. No one can do this alone, you know?" he said.

Cavender sat primly straight and spoke clearly and politely. "I'm very happy I got to see the Capitol. I hope I can see more of Panem, but it will be hard to improve on this," she said.

Nassor started his interview by telling me I looked good, so I decided I liked him.

"If you win, you can see the whole country," I remarked at one point.

"If I win?" Nassor said, and he was so excited he forgot about his lisp. I must have been the first one to tell him it was possible.

Jeanie looked as lovely as the flowers decorating her costume. "What are you scared will be in the Arena?" I asked. In hindsight, it was sort of a loaded question, and I felt bad, but she handled it like a pro.

"I have never been one to shy away from risk. To actively seek it would be foolish, but to spend life always afraid? That doesn't sound like living. I'll face each obstacle as it comes," she said.

"I just hope I don't have to kill anyone. I like all my new friends so much," Hayden said. It was so fake even the suckers weren't fooled.

"What are you going to do if you win?" I asked Ethel.

"I'm going to read lots of books and paint pictures and lots of pretty things," she said. Sounded like Panem would be a more beautiful place if she was the Victor. And her typewriter-printing dress was adorable.

Jayson was wearing a muscle shirt, which he seemed to adore. "I've got some great allies and some great guns. I just hope I can keep them safe," he said.

Maren's makeup only added to the harshness of her face. She was still and her voice was cold.

"I know what happens in the Games. Winners kill. I didn't start this fight, but I have to finish it," she said.

Laicao was neatly washed and wearing a suit, but he picked at the tight collar and loosened the buttons.

"Do you... Uh, do you talk?" I asked.

"Talk no bring food," he said. I had to disagree, since I earned my food entirely by talking.

Yara was precious with her blue dress and white cape, and I was relieved it was almost done. "Me and Ally made friendship bracelets," she said, showing us Ally's work. "We hope we get back. We just wanted to play and go to school, not go to the Games."

"How about that? Some great Tributes this year, everyone! Let's hope they do just as well in the Arena!" I said. My exit was supposed to be much longer than that, but this year, I just wanted to get off the stage and take my happy face off. I just told a boy his father was dead. I had nothing to be happy about.


	25. Sessions

**I didn't forget the sessions, I just forgot they come before interviews. _Italics are Harley butting in._**

* * *

ATTN: HEAD GAMEMAKER TITIAN QIN

PRIVATE SESSION REPORTS

THEODORA HARP AND HEAD SECRETARY HARLEQUIN MARCEAU

"He's creepy."

"That's not nice, Har."

"He just went _bonkers_ after that Patriot Games thing. He shot that kid."

"I'm kind of glad I don't know more about that."

"You know what else is weird?"

"No, what?"

"'Har' is a short form of 'Harley' which is a short form of 'Harlequin'. I have a nickname for my nickname."

* * *

DISTRICT ONE MALE: ATTILA ATTARD

DESCRIPTION: Attila showed us his skills with maces and throwing knives. It was your generic Career session, but he did his job well. Outside of the official session, Attila got along well with his allies and showed none of the arrogance or egoism common with Careers. He is highly capable of killing, but he did show considerable empathy toward the outlying Tributes. He was not the chosen volunteer this year, and though he performed well at the Academy, we anticipate this will affect his sponsorships.

SPECIAL NOTES: We do not believe the recent death of Attila's father will affect him in the Games, since Careers are trained in handling death and emotions.

SCORE: 10

ODDS: 14:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Possible Victor, few kills

NOTES: Geez, you go into the Games to save your dad and this happens.

* * *

DISTRICT ONE FEMALE: JAYDEN CHADSEY

DESCRIPTION: Jayden focused on close combat with brass knuckles. While her weapon seems at first glance to be less threatening than most, the fatal force of her punches and the portability of her weapon balance that out. With her allies and at the Academy, Jayden has shown high levels of loyalty. She is the most physically well-rounded of the Careers and displays much more drive than her District partner.

SPECIAL NOTES: Jayden is _ripped._ Like even more than most Careers. Also, we anticipate she will go farther than Attila.

SCORE: 9

ODDS: 13:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Possible Victor, many kills

NOTES: Yeah but like what if someone has a bow and arrow?

* * *

DISTRICT TWO MALE: HERO NOLAN

DESCRIPTION: Hero provided a sampling of the many weapons he was trained in. He was capable in all of them but lacked the enthusiasm of the earlier Careers. Like Attila, he shows high levels of empathy for his competition, and he has been recorded saying he does not want to kill children and isn't interested in glory. We don't know why he's here, and we definitely think that will affect his placement. His placement will be significantly affected by the presence or absence of poisonous animals in the Arena.

SPECIAL NOTES: Hero is smoking hot. _Theodora has bad taste._

SCORE: 8

ODDS: 20:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Unlikely Victor, few kills

NOTES: Should have stayed home and been a model. _Yeah, he could model with Rhoda. Now_ that's _hot._

* * *

DISTRICT TWO FEMALE: CHROME CABELLO

DESCRIPTION: Chrome showed a skill she had been hiding from her allies: archery. She excelled at it and showed great cunning by keeping it secret from the Careers. We know from her time in training that she is also capable with most other weapons. At six feet tall, Chrome is both intimidating and well-built. However, she does not share the motivation of most Careers. She is here because of family pressure, and it is clear her only goal in the Games is to survive, which could gain the suspicion of her allies but will most likely improve her placing. She is pragmatic instead of idealistic, and we think that will help her.

SPECIAL NOTES: Chrome is the most mentally resilient of the Careers.

SCORE: 10

ODDS: 12:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Possible Victor, few kills

NOTES: I like you. You're not mean like some Careers. _None of them are this year, really._

* * *

DISTRICT THREE MALE: JACK BALT

DESCRIPTION: Jack used a pickaxe, but he explained beforehand that he knew there likely wouldn't be any in the Cornucopia and he is also training with other weapons. He was able to easily swing the heavy weapon, since he is stronger than most Three Tributes. There was nothing particularly impressive about the session, but he did nothing to really disappoint. His determination to stand out may net him additional sponsors.

SPECIAL NOTES: There is no evidence of learning disability or mental deficiency in Jack. He merely prefers other areas.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 26:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Early Death, no kills

NOTES: Congratulations, you're not like most people from Three. You'll still die, though- like most of them.

* * *

DISTRICT THREE FEMALE: SHINJU MATSUSHITA

DESCRIPTION: Hoo boy. Shinju does _not_ like mannequins, as evidenced by her session. She was not savage like some Tributes, but she methodically extracted every bit of stuffing, showing special attention to the neck area. Though there was nothing on the knife, she still licked it lovingly. Throughout the training days, Shinju has spent her time threatening and harassing other Tributes, to the point where the Careers, though not afraid of her, treat her with special disdain. While she is not strong enough to fight any of them, we suspect she may survive the Bloodbath merely because no individual Career wants to attack her for fear of the light but painful wounds she is sure to inflict before death.

SPECIAL NOTES: It is not clear how many people Shinju has killed, due to the poor criminal investigation records in Three, but she is suspected in three missing persons cases. She clearly has a loose grip on reality and shows signs of both psychosis and antisocial personality disorder. We fear she may die from hepatitis or another bloodborne disease. It is also possible she may be eliminated by the Gamemakers in a manner similar to Titus Gein.

SCORE: 7

ODDS: 100:1 (adjusted for likely Gamemaker interference)

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late death, many kills

NOTES: Great, we have a vampire. _She didn't reflect in the glass._ She did too! Don't do that to me!

* * *

DISTRICT FOUR MALE: TILLIAN "GATOR" VOYAGE

DESCRIPTION: Gator first wrestled adeptly, then showed the extent of his skills with his prosthetic arm. He was able to rig up nets and camouflage them, and before time ran out, he was about to demonstrate his ability to lash a knife to his stump and fight with it. Gator's main disadvantage is in his relationship with his alliance. He showed intelligence in allying with the Careers to avoid being targeted, but he is obviously the low man on the totem pole and is barely a member of the group. He lacks the ferocity or drive of his allies, and his interview shows he is a normal Four boy who went to the Games only because of a mistake with the true volunteer.

SPECIAL NOTES: Games Officials have ruled that Gator will not be allowed to take his prosthesis into the Arena.

SCORE: 5 (adjusted for lack of prosthesis)

ODDS: 29:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late Death, no kills

NOTES: It's hard for Jack to stand out when we have a vampire and a gator boy.

* * *

DISTRICT FOUR FEMALE: EREN LINDELL

DESCRIPTION: Defying stereotypes, Eren used an axe as her weapon. She did very well utilizing its devastating weight and force. She also tied knots to show her more mundane but still necessary skills. Eren is the Career with the least baggage in her past, and she is the most lighthearted, though she is still focused. We do not anticipate she will initiate the Career breakup, and we suspect she will make strong friendships in the Games, most likely with Jayden or Hero. She is of course confident in swimming and water combat, and our only concern is that the others may think she is a soft target due to her friendly nature.

SPECIAL NOTES: It is nearly certain that Eren will outlast Gator, and she will likely get all of the sponsors from Four.

SCORE: 9

ODDS: 16:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Unlikely Victor, few kills

NOTES: Four always was more laid-back. _Yeah, they surf and eat shrimp all day._

* * *

DISTRICT FIVE MALE: ACER PACKARD

DESCRIPTION: Acer built a fire and stabbed a few dummies. It showed his ingenuity and willingness to fight, but did little to impress, especially since he is a volunteer. There lies our gravest concern. Acer does not have the skill or strength to volunteer, and this shows poor judgement and overconfidence. His reason for volunteering- to escape an overbearing family- was confusing at best and bizarre at worst. He has already seen that he made a great mistake, but it is too late for anything but damage control now.

SPECIAL NOTES: Acer is an outlier volunteer.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 48:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: I've had some family troubles, but that might have been an overreaction.

* * *

DISTRICT FIVE FEMALE: ALLY TESLA

DESCRIPTION: Ally took a simpler approach and lifted arm and leg weights. For her small size, she lifted an impressive amount of weights. Ally is likely to be one of the most resiliently optimistic Tributes in the Arena, since she displays constant cheerfulness in the Games Building. Her alliance with Yara Warsaw is good for morale but little else, but her other ally Jayson Dable is a formidable protector. The alliance in whole is likely to get many sponsors for its cuteness factor.

SPECIAL NOTES: Ally is diagnosed with PDD-NOS, which appears to affect her minimally.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 45:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: We get one every year. Why can't I watch the deathmatch without guilt?

* * *

DISTRICT SIX MALE: ARAN COOPER

DESCRIPTION: Aran ran around a lot for his session. He was decently fast, but he tripped once and totally ate pavement. The most troubling thing about Aran is that as a coping mechanism, he harbors a delusion that the Games are not what they seem and that no one really dies. He exhibits fear and anxiety, which suggests that he knows deep down what is really going on, but his refusal to completely accept reality will likely kill him.

SPECIAL NOTES: Aran showed no real skills in his session.

SCORE: 3

ODDS: 76:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: _You're gonna find out._

* * *

DISTRICT SIX FEMALE: KIRSTA THALES

DESCRIPTION: Kirsta went with three skills: agility, plants, and daggers. She was naturally adept at the agility course, capable with a few plants, and mediocre with daggers. We were concerned at first when we heard she had been a morphling addict, but she has been clean now for some months and has not relapsed in the Capitol, despite her less than helpful mentors. She has chosen not to ally, which could be either helpful or detrimental.

SPECIAL NOTES: Kirsta has an addictive personality.

SCORE: 5

ODDS: 28:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Early Death, no kills

NOTES: This one is forgettable.

* * *

DISTRICT SEVEN MALE: MARCUS HENRY WILBERFORCE

DESRCIPTION: Marcus stayed with the ropes course and did well, as expected from someone from Seven. He did not show any offensive skills and will likely be a target for the Careers. He has not chosen to ally with anyone, though he spent some time training with Attila and appears to have a measure of protection from the Career.

SPECIAL NOTES: Marcus is especially gregarious, which may prove detrimental.

SCORE: 5

ODDS: 34:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: Too bad, since you're so nice.

* * *

DISRICT SEVEN FEMALE: MARJORIE "JODIE" JACKSON

DESCRIPTION: It's not every day we see a bolo. Jodie was able to trip up her assistant and ran instead of fighting further. She appears to be merciful but still aware of what it takes to win. This, in addition to her charitable activities in Seven, should net her many sponsors. She has not chosen to ally, but we do not think this will hinder her.

SPECIAL NOTES: Jodie will likely get most of the sponsors from Seven, since Marcus will likely die in the Bloodbath.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 24:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late death, no kills

NOTES: I hope you win. I like you.

* * *

DISTRICT EIGHT MALE: NIKO LAFONT

DESCRIPTION: Niko ran one lap to show his speed, which was prodigious, and then used the spear. He lacked confidence and assertion, but he was able to defend himself from his attacker. Outside the session, Niko has a submissive and timid nature. He is a follower, not a leader, and would do well in an alliance, which he is zealously seeking. If his allies have ulterior motives, they will easily be able to betray him.

SPECIAL NOTES: Niko shows PTSD symptoms from an encounter with Peacekeepers.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 27:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Early death, no kills

NOTES: It's not good to be a follower in the Arena.

* * *

DISTRICT EIGHT FEMALE: CAVENDER JONES

DESCRIPTION: Cavender, knowing her smaller frame would be vulnerable, astutely chose poisons as her weapon. She used both a knife and a blowgun, but showed more skill with the knife. She preferred plant-based poisons, which can be found in most Arenas. Outside of the session, Cavender has focused on buttering up sponsors, which is an underrated strategy.

SPECIAL NOTES: None of import.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 24:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late death, no kills

NOTES: You're the one with the boyfriend. So romantic.

* * *

DISTRICT NINE MALE: NASSOR DOYLE

DESCRIPTION: For his session, Nassor chose the agility course. He made it through the course without getting hit once, which was very impressive. He chose not to use his sword and instead ran from the attackers, displaying caution. Though he did not show it in the session, Nassor is highly intelligent and is especially capable with invention. He has additional motivation to get home in the form of a son, and his interview went very well, resulting in more sponsors.

SPECIAL NOTES: Nassor excelled on the intelligence exams given to all Tributes.

SCORE: 7

ODDS: 19:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Possible Victor

NOTES: I wanted to see you make something cool like Wiress.

* * *

DISTRICT NINE FEMALE: JEANIE CLAY

DESCRIPTION: What Jeanie lacked in training, she made up for in determination. She chose one of the more highly skilled sword sparring partners, and though she kept getting beaten back, she never stopped. She fought until she was dripping with sweat and bruised all over, only stopping when we called the match because we feared for her safety. During her training time, Jeanie learned about edible plants, supplementing her District knowledge.

SPECIAL NOTES: Minor illegal activity in Jeanie's past is not enough to take action.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 19:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Possible Victor

NOTES: Maybe finally Nine will have a Victor.

* * *

DISTRICT TEN MALE: HAYDEN ELLIS

DESCRIPTION: Hayden used a cleaver and did adequately well. His real strengths lie in his personality. A hard life in Panem has inured him to the pain of others, and Hayden looks our for himself first.

He is a practical survivor and looks for weaknesses to exploit. He is cunning and brutal in relationships. We suspect he may take Niko up on his plea for an alliance and use him as a shield. Niko is unlikely to get sponsors but likely to be able to live without them.

SPECIAL NOTES: None of import.

SCORE: 6

ODDS: 28:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late death, few kills

NOTES: Ugh, I hope not.

* * *

DISTRICT TEN FEMALE: ETHEL BULHERA

DESCRIPTION: Ethel used camouflage and worked with edible plants. Her skills with camouflage were inspired and her skills with plants were adequate for most Arenas. Outside of the session, Ethel displays flightiness, a propensity to daydream, irresponsibility, and youthfulness. We are concerned that she may be taken advantage of or surprised by a more duplicitous Tribute, but this is limited by her lack of allies. She shows little physical aptitude for the Games and will be in great danger at the Bloodbath.

SPECIAL NOTES: Ethel has only tangential family living and is unlikely to get sponsors.

SCORE: 4

ODDS: 40:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: But how will she write that novel then? _She'll either be dead or rich anyway._

* * *

DISTRICT ELEVEN MALE: JAYSON DABLE

DESCRIPTION: Jayson demonstrated a sword just to show that he could, but he preferred to lift weights. He could lift all the weights and showed this with great relish, hefting them and throwing them around the room with booming yells. His gregarious and fun personality will no doubt attract sponsors, as will his alliance to two young cute Tributes. Sadly, he lacks the intelligence and cruelty usually possessed by Victors.

SPECIAL NOTES: Nothing, really.

SCORE: 5

ODDS: 25:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Late death, no kills

NOTES: That was fun.

* * *

DISTRICT ELEVEN FEMALE: MAREN MCRAE

DESCRIPTION: Maren worked with edible plants, the agility course, and weaponry. She excelled at edible plants and performed adequately on the agility course. Her use of the weapons was geared more toward displaying her willingness to use them than toward her skill with them. Outside of the session, Maren shows an unfortunate tendency toward rebellion. Though it has not been dangerously pronounced so far, if it worsens in the Arena she may have to be eliminated.

SPECIAL NOTES: Only the aforementioned rebellion.

SCORE: 7

ODDS: 27:1 (adjusted for possibility of Gamemaker influence)

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Unlikely Victor, few kills

NOTES: The Arena brings out the worst in people. That might not end well.

* * *

DISTRICT TWELVE MALE: LAICAO DUST

DESCRIPTION: Laicao just wandered around the room occasionally staring suspiciously at us.

SPECIAL NOTES: Pyschologists and speech pathologists have determined that Laicao has been without human contact since somewhere around the age of eight. He does possess the capability for speech and is able to tolerate human contact in small doses if introduced slowly.

SCORE: 1

ODDS: 120:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: That was almost as weird as Shinju.

* * *

DISTRICT TWELVE FEMALE: YARA WARSAW

DESCRIPTION: Yara showed us edible plants and snares. She knew a few edible plants but will have difficulty in non-forested Arenas. Her use of snares was elementary and unlikely to catch anything larger than a rabbit. Outside the session, Yara is resourceful and mature. Her alliance, especially with Jayson, will aid her chances. Her greatest weakness is the most obvious. She is small and unable to fight nearly any of her opponents, and she will be a tempting target in the initital moments of the Games.

SPECIAL NOTES: Yara has developed a close friendship with Ally Tesla, and the two are likely to die together.

SCORE: 4

ODDS: 42:1

PREDICTED PLACEMENT: Bloodbath, no kills

NOTES: Hey, that's the same name as Calvary. _It won't be a problem for long._

* * *

TITIAN QIN

PRIORITY ONE CLASSIFICATION

THEODORA HARP AND HARLEQUIN MARCEAU

* * *

 **I squished some categories together because it was tedious to type them out.**


	26. Last Night

**Bonus development before the Arena!**

* * *

Attila Attard- D1

The sound of the door behind me opening was the most welcome thing I could have imagined. I turned quickly, expecting to see my father telling me this was all a mistake. It wasn't him, though. Kazuo stepped into the room, checking behind the door and sweeping his eyes around the ceiling like something might be hanging there.

"Snow says he sends his regards and enjoyed working with your father," he said awkwardly one step inside the room. He didn't meet my eyes, and we both know why.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. He had to have known. Caesar knew, and he wouldn't know more than my own mentor.

"The others thought it would hurt our chances of another Victor," Kazuo said. He still wouldn't look at me, and his use of 'the others' instead of 'us' tipped me off.

"You wanted to. But you didn't," I said. He seemed to wilt.

"I don't speak up much. I'm only half a Victor as far as some of them think," he said, and I felt bad for accusing him. Kazuo was the quietest and least boastful of the One Victors. When he wasn't mentoring, he rarely left his room. I knew he was intimidated by the others and considered himself less a Victor than merely the one who was left.

"It's okay. I just want to be alone for a while," I said, and Kazuo left gratefully. As soon as he was gone, something I'd been trying to ignore came back full force.

 _I should have volunteered last year. I would have been fast enough,_ I said. My father was gone and my family was devastated by me leaving, and it was my fault. I'd never gotten into this looking forward to the Games, and now my only reason for being here was gone. My only motivation now was wanting to go home.

* * *

Acer Packard- D5

I didn't want to stop training. I peeked down the hall in case anyone was spying, even though there were surely cameras everywhere. I shut the door behind me and pulled up pictures of plants on my computer, trying to cram in some last-minute information.

I wasn't panicked, but it was good to keep learning. The Careers wouldn't think I was a threat, so I would be safe at the Bloodbath. I wasn't planning to run in for supplies. I would wait until one of the others that did go for supplies ran away and rob them when they passed me. After that I'd avoid people stronger than me and fight people weaker than me. I'd gotten myself into this and I couldn't afford to be soft-hearted. I had to show the people I was a contender. The only way to get supplies that would save my life was to rack up kills.

It was eerie knowing I'd be in the Arena tomorrow. I was perched on a feathery bed loaded with soft pillows and comforters, and in less than twenty-four hours I'd be in the wilderness looking for food and running from people who wanted to kill me. I wanted to go somewhere different and escape my family, and I was certainly going to.

There were two categories in my competition: people stronger than me and people weaker than me. I went through the list, prioritizing the threats and singling out the people I coul target. Yara and Ally were with Jayson and Niko, so they were out. Marcus was the safest bet, but I could also go after Cavender. I had to avoid Hayden, Maren and Jeanie, since they were together, and the Careers. Laicao and Shinju were wild cards and I didn't want to get mixed up in that. I just had to play my cards right and use my strengths, and I'd be home in no time.

* * *

Niko Lafont- D8

Jayson and I had a very important job. He and the girls were nice enough to let me into their alliance, and I was not going to let them down. I knew Jayson would be watching out for Ally and Yara at the Bloodbath, and I had to do the same. This was no time to be a coward and let someone else get hurt. This time, I was going to do the right thing.

It was a tremendous relief just to have some allies. I wasn't stupid- I knew I couldn't win this alone. Having allies could get me all the way to victory, and if I died, I would have someone with me. If I did die, all my allies were great people, and I'd be glad if any of them won.

It seemed like most Tribute were brave when they came up on their platforms, but I was terrified. I wanted to run out of the building and never stop running. I had fleeting thoughts of avoiding the Arena by ending it quickly with some stolen poison from the training room, but that didn't solve the problem. The problem was that I didn't want to die. My chest was tight and my hands shook as I lay in bed. It didn't seem like the others were as scared as me, and I was ashamed.

There seemed to be no way I could win. I wasn't as strong as Jayson or as smart as Nassor or as mean as Chrome. I was nothing special, and only special people won the Games. I could only hope I was so unremarkable that no one noticed me enough to kill me, but that only ever worked twice. I couldn't be sure of winning, that was certain. All I could be sure of was staying true to my allies, and I was determined to make it happen.

* * *

Nassor Doyle- D9

I used to think intelligence was the most important thing in the world. Probably I only ever thought that because that was my biggest gift. I thought I was higher than people who were "dumber" than I was and that smart people were special somehow. Looking back, that was a jerk move. Everyone had their own skills and weaknesses, and it took more than intelligence to win the Games. Somewhere in the Capitol, I got tired of holding myself up above everyone else, and I was learning it wasn't so bad being the same as them.

I kept thinking back to the interviews. If I won, I could see everything. I'd prided myself on being quick to learn, and there was so much to learn from the other Districts. Nine kept creeping back into my thoughts, though, and I was getting mighty homesick. I'd always thought Nine was a bit backwards and stifling for smart people, but I'd changed my mind on that too. I missed the rolling fields and open spaces with no buildings. I still wanted to see the rest of the country, but there was nowhere I wanted to live other than Nine.

None of that mattered if I didn't come home. All twenty-four of us were in our rooms, trying to sleep and thinking the same thoughts. Most of us would never see our plans and dreams through. We became just another footnote in a file of dead Tributes. All the things we might have accomplished were thrown away like dust. All the inventions I might have made, all the superheroics Marcus wanted to do, all the people Jodie wanted to help... all of it would be gone. Only one person would be left, and most Victors were too tired and hollowed-out to do much other than throw money at their causes and mentor more footnotes. If I lived, there was so much I could do. I was like the tiny flame on my lighter, and I wanted to keep burning.

* * *

Jeanie Clay- D9

Me and Nassor were in a unique situation. We were the only outliers who had a Career pulling for them. It was intimidating to have Rhoda for a mentor, but curiosity won out over shyness.

"Is it weird training people not from your District?" I asked on our last night together.

"It would have been, but I'm a lot different from what I used to be," she said.

"You were in the weird Games, right? I only heard rumors, but I heard it was sort of a Games and sort of not," I said. Rhoda looked off into the rainbow fireplace.

"Rumors are all anyone will ever know, I suppose. I'm not supposed to talk about the Games, but I can talk about what I learned. And who I learned it from," she said. I waited while she gathered the story.

"I never had many friends, even though I was famous. They only want you for your money or looks. When I came back, there was another girl also resurrected for that... event. Steel loved the Capitol even more than I did, but she was from so long ago. It was like talking to a piece of history," she said, and her voice got harsher. "They used her up and threw her away. She was the bravest and strongest person I've ever met, and they tossed her like garbage after she gave them the best years of her life. I couldn't believe in Panem after that, and now I don't care where the Victor comes from. There's no value in being a Career anymore, and I don't have pride in where I was born."

It didn't seem possible to like the Capitol less than I already did, but Rhoda made it happen. I remembered her from her modeling work, and I remembered how vivacious and full of joy she was when she talked about her country. She had it all, and the Capitol ripped it up like paper. I didn't know Steel, but she sounded like someone I would have liked to have met, and I hated the Capitol for all they did. I could hardly tell if I hated them so much I wanted to win to spite them, or if I didn't want any part in their "victory".


	27. Tubes

Kazuo Braun

For the first time since the Academy started, neither the Tribute nor the mentor from One wanted to be there. Attila stood in the tube, obviously trying to figure out a reason to keep fighting. I'd lost mine long ago, even before I won. I never beat Hunter. A mutt decided who won that year. I couldn't give him motivation any more than he could give it to himself.

* * *

Pray Jager

Chrome was a mixed bag. She was strong enough to win and I admired that, but she didn't want to fight. She wasn't a whiner, at least. She was cold and hard, like I'd always been. She could win if she decided to. I just didn't know if either of us would celebrate it.

* * *

Acee Hal

Shinju was a lost cause. Jack didn't want to hear about electronics and inventions, and that was all I knew. I did my best to help him, but my role this year would be gathering sponsors. We all had our own ways to win, and I hoped he found his. And that Shinju didn't find hers.

* * *

Careen Ellis

The Tributes from Four were always the brightest Careers. Not in intelligence, though that was sometimes true. It just seemed like we had something in life other than the Games. The Games were an event, not a culmination. Eren would get through this, go home, and she would still have things to look forward to. The Games didn't stop everything for us. Or at least not some of us.

* * *

Shane Donegal

Gator deserved better than a five. It was only because they decided they were going to take his arm. He looked off-balance in the launch room, but he didn't move like it.

"It's okay. They can't fight me now. I'm unarmed," he said, and I wished he looked happier when he did. If only it was like that. Most people didn't fight fair in there, even the Careers. There was me and Hero, but I wasn't going in and Hero was only one Tribute. Neither he nor Gator were likely to win.

* * *

Sky Levings

I asked for the Games and didn't deserve to win. Ally didn't ask for the Games and deserved to win. I knew the same reverse would hold true of our placings.

* * *

Toby Cash

The girl had avoided me all through the week. The boy usually did, too, but the girl didn't like me. Her face was always scrunched when she looked at me. She needed to relax and do some painting.

* * *

Paul Olson

I was barely much older than Marcus when I won, or at least it felt like it. I'd felt like a baby in the Arena with so many older people. I got out of it, but there weren't Careers then. Marcus was going into the lion's den, and miracles didn't happen often.

* * *

Tillo Peters

I didn't like Niko, and he didn't like me either. I thought he was a yes-man and he thought I was a grouch. We were both right, but I didn't know many people who came out of the Arena sunny and optimistic. The only happy Victors were Toby and his lady friend, and they left their brains in the Games.

* * *

Rhoda Hamilton

"I wanted to be a hero," Jeanie said.

"You can. Or you can be alive," I said. I knew she'd started to see that. She'd talked about allying with Marcus and protecting him, but that was only ever talk. She wasn't allying with Maren to protect her.

"I wanted to be the good guy," she said softly.

"Steel was the good guy," I said.

* * *

Bambi Kirkland

Hayden and I hadn't spoken much. He seemed to be able to take care of himself. What did I know anyway? All I could teach him was how to use a cleaver, and he knew that already. He was probably smarter than me as well as tougher. Let him take care of himself.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Jayson was loud and goofy. He broke things like a force of nature. He never sat still and he had no volume lower than a yell. He barely fit in the tube, and I could still hear him through the glass. So why was I going to miss him?

* * *

Nubu Sanders

The Peacekeepers had to hold Laicao in place while the tube shut so he wouldn't cut himself in half. They used a loop around his neck just like for a stray dog. That's all he was to anyone. He used to be someone's son. Just because he didn't have a family, he wasn't garbage. Soon they'd bury him, just like garbage.

* * *

 **I think I'll WRITE THE BLOODBATH now!**


	28. Countdown

**Whoever said I do a good job of hiding the Victor, joke's on you: I have no idea who the Victor is.**

* * *

Jodie Jackson, D7

I was wearing a tight shirt and dark green pants, both made of some synthetic material I could tell would wick away water. As soon as the top of the tube opened and I started to rise, I could feel why. Hot, wet air hit me like a blanket, and I could smell the green in the air. It was too humid for a normal forest, and I wasn't surprised to see a dank, verdant jungle all around when I rose into the air. Vines draped across the dull brown Cornucopia, and mist rolled across the grass. The clock blinked on over the Cornucopia, and the countdown started.

 _59, 58, 57..._

* * *

Attila Attard, D1

The mist didn't hide what was inside the Cornucopia. Or what _wasn't_ inside the Cornucopia. There was food, extra clothing, water, and survival stuff of all sorts, but something was missing. There wasn't a single weapon inside the structure or on the greenery around it. I looked at my allies and saw they were all scanning the harmless supplies, looking for which was the least harmless. We threw a wrench in the Gamemakers' plans, and they threw one right back.

 _53, 52, 51..._

* * *

Hayden Ellis, D10

Jayden was on the platform next to me. She kept her eyes on the supplies, but she kept squirming in the corner of my vision. I looked over and saw she had both hands inside her shirt. She drew one back out, and she held her bra in her hand. _Is she stripping? That_ would _be a distraction, but I'm busy trying not to die._

 _47, 46, 45..._

* * *

Ethel Bulhera, D10

It was like nothing I'd ever seen. I was used to the rolling fields of Ten, and I'd never seen anything like this thick, tree-filled stretch of land. I could barely see twenty feet beyond the Cornucopia before the mossy trees cut off my view. I could feel the air, it was so hot and thick. It was like the whole Arena was a bathtub.

 _42, 41, 40..._

* * *

Laicao Dust, D12

There was a girl next to me. She was tan and fit. I could tell she ate regularly. She might have some food on her right now. I bent my legs to get ready to jump. If she didn't give up the food, I would fight her for it.

 _35, 34, 33..._

* * *

Eren Lindell, D4

I was straining my eyes to find anything useful when I saw something glimmer in the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw Laicao looking straight at me. His legs were bent, and I felt sick when I figured it out. He didn't understand about the timer or the bombs. He wanted to fight now. I screamed when the explosion sounded.

* * *

Hero Nolan, D1

Laicao was next to me. Eren was next to him. My heart skipped when I saw his legs bend. Eren looked up an instant after that, and fear I'd never seen on a Career was plain on her face. In a split second, it would be over.

"Don't let them look!" I yelled. I was in the air like a shot, doing the only thing I could. Laicao was going to die either way. All I could do was choose who went with him. My jump carried me to the edge of his platform, and I went up like a firework.

 _31, 30, 29..._

* * *

Ally Tesla, D5

Two cannons, before the countdown was even over. I looked over at the sound and saw one platform smoking and another one empty. I couldn't tell who the pieces belonged to, and I scanned the faces around me to see who was missing. It was Hero and Laicao. I didn't think Hero hated Laicao enough to commit suicide just to kill him, but I was grateful they were both gone.

 _22, 21, 20..._

* * *

Chrome Cabello, D2

My job had been to be the only conventional Career in the Bloodbath. The others had assigned targets, and I was to pick off as many slow-moving targets as possible with my bow. I had no bow, and Hero's target was now unguarded. I made the obvious adjustment to my plan.

 _15, 14, 13..._

* * *

Aran Cooper, D6

Those two really died. Hero's blood was spattered all over my right side. I was hyperventilating, but one thing kept me sane. They died, but that was because they broke the rules. If I followed the rules, I didn't have to die. It was just a message. I would be a good boy.

 _7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..._

The Hunger Games began.

* * *

 **PLOT TWIST, SUCKERS! Double plot twist, since it wasn't Eren who died. I've been mulling over something like this for a while, and it worked out this time.**

 **24th place: Laicao Dust- Sploded**

 **Laicao's form noted that he wouldn't understand things like the Bloodbath. It would be only natural for someone who didn't understand that to want to get food right away, so he did. He was never meant to win, so I went for it. Our thanks to Tinks for providing this year's weirdo... other than Shinju.**

 **23rd place: Hero Nolan- Heroically sploded**

 **It was right in his name, wasn't it? Hero was born in the wrong District. His form said he would probably die because of his moral nature, and it asked for a quick death. He came into this to protect some other boy and left protecting another girl. He was so nice and such a great guy I didn't want to corrupt him, so I'd always planned for an easy death. This was nice because now he doesn't have to degrade at all. He couldn't even wait until the Games started to save someone else. Thanks Soralopsia for such a good guy. I don't usually kill Careers early, but this was a special circumstance.**

 **It was going to be a savannah Arena, but then I remembered Heart of Darkness was set in the Congo, and it's sort of racist to use an African title like Africa is just one big homogenous lump. So the savannah will come later.**


	29. Bloodbath

Jayden Chadsey, D1

I'd never thought to ask whether or not female Tributes got brassieres. It would be unfair to make us run around with our boobs painfully pulling at our skin, but it was also unfair for the girls to have more clothes than the boys. Practicality won out, as I discovered when I was given a lightweight mesh sports bra with my outfit. I took it off as time counted down.

When the timer sounded, the other Career ran into the heart of the Cornucopia, hoping weapons might be buried underneath the blankets and socks. My target, Hayden, made my job easier by running in a bit for supplies. He looked up as I ran closer, expecting me to keep running until I had something to kill him with. The joke was on him.

* * *

Hayden Ellis, D10

I heard Jayden behind me as she ran for a weapon. Or I _thought_ she was looking for a weapon. She smashed into me from behind, knocking me forward onto my chest. Something thin and tight jerked me back to my knees, and instantly my breath was cut off. The band around my neck tightened unbearably, like a garrotte. I clawed and tried to twist, but Jayden had her legs wrapped around my waist, and she rode out my thrashing. As my struggles got weaker, I realized how she was killing me, and I had to smile.

* * *

Ally Tesla, D5

Vampires weren't supposed to come out in the daytime, but that didn't stop her. I saw Yara in front of me as we ran toward our closest ally, Jayson, but I never got there. I felt Shinju's hand on my shoulder and she yanked me backwards off-balance. My chest hitched painfully as I landed hard, and fresh pain burst from it when Shinju dropped heavily onto me. She grabbed my head with both hands, holding in place as she started to feed.

Her teeth weren't sharp yet. They tore bluntly at my skin, and Shinju didn't suck blood so much as it sprayed into her mouth. I screamed and shoved at her, and she flew off me suddenly. I hadn't thought I was that strong. In the seconds before my vision faded, I saw Jayson standing over me and smiled, because I knew I was safe.

* * *

Jayson Dable, D11

I grabbed Shinju by the back of the collar and picked her up like a rag doll, throwing her away from Ally and halfway to her platform. She landed in a heap and got up, blood smeared across her mouth and glaring evilly at me. She slunk away when I acted like I was going to go after her. I turned back to Ally, just in time to see the life fading from her eyes. I bent down next to her. She only had a second left. I could stay with her that long.

Blinding pain washed over the left side of my head, and I fell onto Ally's body. I couldn't imagine what had hit me. I couldn't fight someone who hit me from behind and ran. It looked like I would be staying with Ally longer than a second. I covered her cooling body with mine as I fell. Nobody else was going to hurt her.

* * *

Attila Attard, D1

Hero was down. We couldn't mourn him until after the Bloodbath. We all had our jobs. Chrome got Hero's target, Jayson, by scooping up a full metal canteen and swinging it from the rope like a shot put, knocking half his brains out. Eren was assigned to Jodie, but the girl had abandoned the supplies and was in the thick woods in a heartbeat. Jayden's assignment was taken care of, leaving her open to provide backup and eliminate stragglers. Gator had been assigned to Shinju, mostly because we were hoping she would kill him, but the vampire escaped and left a trail of blood in the grass behind her. That left me and my target- Niko.

The blur of moving Tributes blocked my view of Niko for a minute. When they cleared, I saw him dimly through the vines and trees, half-carrying Yara with him. He looked over his shoulder and cringed when he saw Jayson lying on Ally. He was gone, but that wouldn't stop me from killing. I ran for the closest Tribute and grabbed the back of her head. She was crying and she said something, but I ignored it and hardly even noticed her face. If I was to live, she had to die. I smacked her head down as I brought my knee up to meet it.

* * *

Ethel Bulhera, D10

I didn't even go for the supplies. I just ran, but I wasn't fast enough. Attila caught me and grabbed me by the head. I knew there was no way out, even as I pleaded with him. My story had just begun, and already it was ending.

* * *

Aran Cooper, D6

I was supposed to run in and get supplies. That was what the outliers always did during the Games. I ran in toward one of the green camouflage backpacks and picked it up. It was surprisingly heavy, and it slowed me down as I ran toward the trees. I heard footsteps in the soft ground behind me and turned to see Chrome coming at me with her hands over her shoulder. Her muscles flexed as she brought her arms around in an arc. Something round and metal sliced through the air and connected with my head. The pain felt horribly real, and so did what came after.

* * *

Marcus Henry Wilberforce, D7

The Cornucopia was covered in vines that connected to the trees that formed a canopy over us. I knew the Careers would underestimate me, and I had one shot to show them they were wrong. I ran straight at the Cornucopia, scooping up a small backpack on the way. I kept going full speed until I was about to smash into the Cornucopia, but instead I grabbed the vine dangling in front of it and scurried up it like the Seven boy I was. In seconds I was out of reach, and in a few seconds more I was safely in the tree the vine connected to, listening to the fighting below as I climbed from one tree to another until I was out of sight.

* * *

 **22nd place: Hayden Ellis- Strangled by Jayden's bra**

 **So now you know. Being a Career, Jayden would know it's really hard to strangle someone barehanded. It's much easier with a ligature, like most murderers use. So, like the Boston Strangler, she used a bra. Hayden was sort of mean and selfish, so I never thought he would win because I'm a boy scout. This, combined with the Careers deciding to systematically target the biggest threats, caused his early death. Thanks MysticalPineForest for Hayden and for submitting a boy, which is always harder to get, as well as not submitting a perfect nice Tribute.**

 **21st place: Ally Tesla- Throat torn out by Shinju**

 **I never planned to kill both Ally and Yara in the Bloodbath, but I knew it would be one or the other. The Careers had assignments, but Shinju was sure to attack one of them. I picked Ally because Yara had a slightly higher chance of winning and I wanted to see it through. Ally was a ray of sunshine, and her alliance will be colorless without her. Thanks Americanpi for Ally, who I didn't kill because I hated her but because she was going to go eventually.**

 **19th place: Jayson Dable- Head smashed by Chrome with a canteen (died after Ethel because the head wound was lighter)**

 **I had this vision of a weaponless Cornucopia where one Career used a metal canteen as a weapon. Chrome was the cleverest, so that made sense. It made sense for Jayson to die because I knew Jayman was happy with Shane and probably didn't expect Jayson to win. He was a great guy, and I'm glad he was popular. Jayman has trouble with that. Thanks homey for Jayson, who was a cool dude.**

 **20th place: Ethel Bulhera- Skull smashed by Attila**

 **Ethel was submitted as a Bloodbath, so that explains that. Nonetheless, we loved her for her humble aspirations of writing and her innocent and sunny nature. We all knew she couldn't win, but it's sad to see her go. Thanks Tracelyn for being the hero we needed and sending a Bloodbath, and for once she wasn't in second. (PS if you were waiting for a specific placement to complete your set, I can juggle Bloodbath orders. Deaths in the Bloodbath are inexact).**

 **18th place: Aran Cooper- Smashed by Chrome with a canteen**

 **Aran didn't think this was real. Natch that he didn't run as fast in the Bloodbath since he wasn't in fear of death. I planned to kill some non-strong Tributes just because it made sense the Careers would keep going after they got their targets. It was Aran or Acer, and Aran had less chance of winning. Thanks ItsaCatsWorld for Aran. You always send in Tributes that aren't overpowered, and I've never gotten anyone like Aran.**

 **Big Bloodbath this time. That's rare for me. I always plan to, and this time I actually did.**


	30. First Night

Nassor Doyle, D9

I ran for the heaviest-looking backpack. This was an entirely new environment, and I needed supplies if I was going to adapt fast enough. As I was running back toward the trees, someone threw me down from behind. I flipped onto my back and crossed my arms defensively in front of my face. Whoever threw me down was heavy, and it was deliberate. It could only be a Career.

"No, please don't!" I pleaded without shame. There was no shame in not wanting to die.

"Come on," Attila said. He hefted me to my feet like a little kid and pulled me behind him into the trees. He stopped behind a wide trunk and let me go.

"Please let me-" I started.

"I want an alliance," he said.

"W-what?" I said.

"I want an alliance," he repeated. "You in?"

"Yes, of course! But why?" I asked. He started walking further into the woods, hefting a bag onto his back that I hadn't even noticed he'd grabbed, and I followed.

"Back at the Bloodbath, Chrome was swinging a canteen like a mace," Attila said. "She acted like it was an accident when it almost took my head off, but there was no one around. I don't stay with allies who try to kill me. I know you won't try, so you're my new ally."

 _Yeah, you know I won't try._ I was still wiping tears and shaking after such a close brush with a Career. But when I realized my new position, I had nothing to cry about. I had an ally who knew I wasn't a threat and was perhaps the strongest Tribute in the Arena. We both had fat packs full of supplies, and I didn't have to worry about anyone attacking us. I'd gone from running for my life to king of the Arena in five minutes. I could breathe easy and look at the environment around us.

Now that I wasn't afraid, it _was_ stunning. Every inch of land was covered in multiple layers of life. Trees were covered with vines covered in moss that animals perched on. It was warm, but the trees overhead meant we wouldn't burn. There were colorful flowers and I heard birds calling as they fluttered through the branches. Ten minutes ago I was crying, but when I really saw the Arena, I couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

Yara Warsaw, D12

"Where's Ally and Jayson?" I asked Niko when we reached somewhere safe enough to stop. Neither of us had taken anything at the Bloodbath. Niko was busy watching for me, and I just followed him. His face was glistening with sweat and he was bent over catching his breath. He wiped at his face, and I knew it wasn't sweat. I looked away at the pain on his face and didn't make him say anything.

"It's not your fault," I said, and I hoped he believed me even though my voice was crackling and I was crying too. He stayed bent over and I knew he had his breath back. Niko got me out of the Bloodbath, and now I had to be the strong one for a while.

"Let's keep going and get far away from here," I said. I took his hand and led us deeper into the forest. I hadn't noticed how much water was in the air. My shirt was already damp. If we did much running, we'd sweat all our water away.

"We need to find some water. It shouldn't be hard," I said, and I smiled for Niko's benefit. I found a place where the land sloped downward, since that would lead us to water. It also brought the risk of other people, but we would definitely die without water and would only perhaps die if there were other people there. I couldn't think of every threat at once anyway, only the most immediate one. At the moment, that was despair.

* * *

Jack Balt, D3

There weren't any weapons in the Bloodbath, and I couldn't use the wires and mechanical stuff lying around. Instead I just took a canteen, because who knows what was in the water around here.

I knew I had to get somewhere safe and lay low for a while. I knew I'd have to fight eventually and I wanted to be ready, but I had to wait until after the first night, when the Careers always thinned the herd. While I waited, I could set myself up in a secure location and start making a weapon. It wouldn't be hard around here- there were sticks and rocks and all sort of things.

It was primitive, but so was I, by Three standards. I broke a stick off a tree and started to sharpen it by scraping at it with a rock. I kept walking as I sharpened, speeding up when I heard the cannons signaling the end of the Bloodbath. There were seven of them, which was good for me. I just wouldn't think about who they were.

I jerked my head up sharply when I heard a twig break. I saw Nassor looking off sideways guiltily, and then another noise behind me as the ally I hadn't known he had burst from the greenery and slammed me against a tree. Attila ripped my spear from my grasp and shoved in at my stomach. Despite my best efforts, the spear was too blunt to do more than scrape and bruise my skin. Attila abandoned the effort and grabbed me by the collar when I tried to squirm away. He crooked an elbow around my neck and squeezed until I thought it would break. I pulled at his arms and squirmed, but my vision went fuzzy far faster than I'd expected. I felt blood pulsing in my neck, and I started to feel off-balance. Nassor watched the scene with a mixture of fear and horror, and he drew back when he saw me looking at him.

Dying didn't make me conform to Three stereotypes. That wasn't limited to any one District. Most of us didn't try to fight back against Careers. I wasn't successful, but as least one of us tried.

* * *

Maren McRae, D11

Our plan so far had worked perfectly. Jeanie and I weren't considered threats at the Bloodbath, and the Careers ignored us as we gathered supplies. I was bigger than Jeanie, so I gathered backpacks while she gathered canteens. Once I saw some of the Careers had killed the Tributes they had obviously planned to target, we cleared out.

"I think we should find water and stay there," I said as we fled through the woods.

"There will be other people there," Jeanie said.

"They'll leave or they'll die," I said. With half of Jayson's alliance dead, we were stronger than anyone but the Careers. Jeanie didn't protest.

"If we stay in one place, we can get ourselves established. If we're not moving around, any noise we hear we'll know is from other people," I said. Jeanie didn't look at me much as we discussed plans. I got the feeling she was an ally but not a friend, just like I was to her. We were together because of convenience, but there wasn't any real connection. I knew she would have to die eventually if I was going to win, and she knew how cold I was.

There was another cannon after the seven. A third of us were gone already. It was good news for us, but it wasn't all good. Only one of those cannons was for a Career. There were a lot of Careers left, even minus Gator, and a lot fewer Tributes left. It was all the more important to have a strong base when they came for us, and they would.

* * *

 **17th place: Jack Balt- Artery crushed by Attila**

 **I know I've been killing a lot of guys so far. It wasn't intentional, and I'm keeping an eye on the boys who are left. I usually have one person die the first day as the Careers hunt for the first time, and I happened to pick Jack because he was both vulnerable and alone. Had he had time to perfect his weapon, he could have been formidable, but some people just die before they have a chance. Jack blazed his own trail, and that's not what killed him. Careers don't care if a Tribute conforms to expectations. They just want to kill. Thanks Tigris for Jack, who made his own way in the world and stuck to his guns even when some people didn't understand him.**

 **I'm also aware the girls are stronger this year and usually are. I've been trying to minimize it, and I think some of the problem is that most people here are girls and tend to submit stronger females than males. I shall continue to keep an eye on it.**


	31. First Cannons

**Cleverly thinking ahead, I wrote this yesterday in case I wasn't feeling it today.**

* * *

Calvary Warsaw

Ethel hit me hard. She was a little mouse when she first came to the Capitol, and it took a few days for me to coax her out of her shell. I showed her the library and we screened a movie together in the lounge and threw popcorn at characters we didn't like. She was such a sweet girl, and she was gone just like that. I knew it would happen, which was why I tried to make her last days pleasant. She should have been able to write that story. I would have bought it.

* * *

Bambi Kirkland

I didn't tell anyone, but I was glad Hayden didn't win. I didn't want to watch him die, but I didn't want him to win. I would have been happy for Ethel, but I knew that wouldn't happen. I didn't know who I was rooting for now, and I didn't want to root for anyone. I would just wait for the end and be happy for the one who won.

* * *

District Ten

There was more food in the Bulhera house. The kids were happy, but Ethel's coworkers were surprised at how much they missed the pencil thief. Hayden's cows did not notice he was gone, but his family did. His income, though sometimes gotten through his silver tongue, was missed.

* * *

 **HERO NOLAN-** Eren Lindell

He really was a hero. I was going to die before the countdown even started, but he saved me. I saw him go up in smoke and I couldn't even thank him for what he did. He never should have been here. People like him made Panem better. I would never forget him. Heroes were real.

 **JACK BALT-** Attila Attard

We were all trained to kill. Some of us liked it more than others, but none of us volunteered if we weren't willing to do it. I wanted to get home, and that was what it took.

* * *

 **ALLY TESLA-** Yara Warsaw

Little kids died in the Games. Grownups saw a spectacle and took bets on which gladiator would win. We saw little kids die. A week ago, we were having tea parties and whispering secrets and making bracelets. Ally was gone, but I still had the bracelet. She was my best friend.

 **ARAN COOPER-** Kirsta Thales

My District partner was dead. I didn't know him, so it was hard to feel anything. Mostly what it meant to me was that I was the only one left from Six and I would get all the sponsors. If anyone wanted to sponsor a former addict, that was.

 **HAYDEN ELLIS-** Jayden Chadsey

 _Now my bra's all stretched out._ It got the job done, but the pressure of my arm drawing it tight warped the fabric and made the garment loose. Luckily I wasn't overly voluptuous, but it was still uncomfortable. My chest pulled at me as I walked, and I could only imagine the view the audience was getting through my shirt. So I hardly thought about Hayden. Just another dead competitor.

 **ETHEL BULHERA-** Nassor Doyle

She wanted to be a writer. I had dreams about that, too. It seemed silly for an egghead inventor to want to write stories, and I never got past aborted first drafts. I wasn't good at spelling and no one could read my handwriting. She must have been better than I was, but now no one would read her books.

 **JAYSON DABLE-** Niko Lafont

How could I keep Yara safe without Jayson? He was the backbone of our alliance. He was the only one that thought any of us could get out of this. If he didn't live, none of us could. I'd keep Yara safe as long as I could and do the same for myself.

 **LAICAO DUST-** Shinju Matushita

I was the only monster left now. I was used to being alone.

* * *

 **Eight dead in one night! But now the Tributes are very spread out over a very large and hospitable Arena. This will be a long Games.**


	32. Nothing Happens

Acer Packard, D5

I needed to find water. That was almost always the first thing to find in the Arena. My quest was completed in five minutes when I heard a river running right beside me. It turned out to be more of a creek than a river, but I didn't drink _that_ much. My quest was double completed when it started to rain, showing me why it was called a _rain_ forest.

The next thing I needed was a shelter. This Arena was warm, so it wasn't to stay out of the elements. It was more of a hiding place, meant to keep me away from other people. There were no shortages of hiding places around here. There were trees of all shapes and sizes, but the one that caught my eye was a sickly-looking specimen with vines coiled criss-cross all around it. Everyone had that one random, usually useless, thing they learned in school and never forgot. For me, it was strangler figs.

There was a picture in one of our old, dog-eared science books that showed a tree all covered in vines just like the one in front of me. They were parasites- they leeched nutrition off the tree and squeezed it like a snake. Sometimes they made the tree so sick it died and rotted away, and all that was left was a skeleton of vines. I checked the base of the tree and sure enough, there was a huge cavity where the tree had started to die. It was big enough for me to climb inside, and I could pull the vines over the hole and stay hidden. There was only one problem.

I wasn't the only one in my hole. As I squeezed into my new shelter, something with far too many legs skittered across my arm. I looked at the dirt on the bottom and saw it was crawling with beetles, winged bugs of all sorts, a little spider, and a ball of gross millipedes. I shot out of the hole like a bat out of hell and brushed of my clothes as I did a little no-bugs dance. Then I heard footsteps.

 _Oh, gross,_ I thought as I looked back at the bughole I was about to shoot back into.

* * *

Cavender Jones, D8

Everything worked out ideally in my case. I'd spent a lot of time in training learning about poisons, and poisons were everywhere in the rainforest. Though I'd focused on plants, I did take a peek at the frogs, which was a great stroke of luck. Poison dart frogs liked to hang out in bromeliads, which were big, deep flowers. What made this information lifesaving was that they hung out in bromeliads because the wide, interlocking petals trapped clean, fresh rainwater.

It was already raining, and I suspected it would be for most of my time in the Arena. The lack of weapons in the Cornucopia meant it was safe for me to run in and grab a bag. Though I didn't necessarily need one, I was very happy to find an empty canteen, along with a rain poncho and a pair of water shoes. Food wouldn't be difficult here- the whole Arena was a cornucopia. It was easy to find one of the bright red flowers- a cluster of them, in fact. I tipped one forward and collected the water in my bottle. When I finished with the other two, I had a whole bottle of rainwater.

That took care of that, and my next goal was food. Most of the plants I learned about were not ideal food sources, but I was in a rainforest. There had to be food _somewhere._ I searched around for a few minutes, looking down at the unfamiliar plants all around me. Many of them were brightly colored, which made me nervous. Then I had a revelation and looked _up._ I couldn't see far with all the trees in the way, but I didn't _have_ to see very far. There was a bright yellow cluster of delicious-looking bananas staring down at me from a happy-looking tree.

There was only one problem. The bananas were fifty feet up, and there weren't many trees in Eight. I improvised and picked up a rock. I shied it at the bananas and missed, sending the rock smacking through the leaves around the bunch. I picked up another and made a direct hit, snapping two of the bananas off. I felt an odd sense of primitive triumph as I ate one of my hard-won fruits. I was king of the jungle.

* * *

Chrome Cabello, D2

I was great at firing bows. I was not so great at _making_ bows. It wouldn't do to go without a weapon, and I couldn't get by with nothing but a canteen. I had little idea where to start, but I knew a bow required two things: a string and a stick. The stick was easy enough to get, though I spent the better part of the first day shaping it and scraping off the bark with the inch-long blade from a multitool, leaving the hunting to Eren and Jayden, who came back empty in an Arena with so many places to hide. I finally had a usable stick that bent a little but wasn't flimsy. One half down.

The string shouldn't have been difficult either. There were all sorts of possibilities. My first thought was the strap from a canteen, but the strong was too stiff and had no stretch for me to pull it back. A strip torn from a blanket frayed within minutes and ripped. A drawstring from a tent in a sack was similarly too stiff. I was about to start looking for vines in desperation when I heard the notes of a tootling parachute.

"It's for me!" Jayden said, and I scuffed a foot at the dirt in disappointment.

"Oh _heck_ yeah!" she continued, and I looked over eagerly. Was it a collection of weapons? A bazooka? A tank?

It was a bra. Jayden ripped her shirt off and put it on as I averted my gaze in horror.

"Agh, you gotta warn someone!" I protested.

"We all used the same locker room. Your boobs look the same as mine," Jayden said. She cast her discarded bra on the ground and stood proud in her new sports bra. Inspiration struck.. "Can I have that?" I asked, pointing at her old bra.

"Yeah, sure," Jayden said. I tore open the seams and fished out the wide elastic band. It wasn't long enough, so I slit it down the middle and reinforced the center with some duct tape. I strung it onto my bow and pulled back to test it. The slightly warped elastic still had enough give in the good stretches to provide thrust. It was unconventional, but I had my weapon.

* * *

 **Yay no one died. Jayden also got brass knuckles, BTW**


	33. Ooh Ooh Eee Eee

**I forgot I was going to explain what Hero did. Laicao was to the right of Hero. Eren was to the right of Laicao. Laicao was about to jump toward Eren, exploding him and her. Hero jumped toward Laicao before Laicao could jump, meaning he detonated Laicao's bombs, exploding him and Laicao. Since Laicao was still on his platform when Hero jumped, Eren's bombs didn't go off and she was saved.**

* * *

Gator Voyage, D6

I didn't want to cry at the Bloodbath. The Careers already thought I was weak. But they just came right out. I guess people from Four had so much water in them it just leaked out. I hadn't told them I wasn't allowed to take my prosthetic, and I saw surprise mix with calculation when Jayden saw me. I had a target for the Bloodbath- Shinju- but I hadn't ever planned to mess with that. A few minutes after the Bloodbath, while the Careers were still checking that everyone was dead before the cannons started, I slipped away on my own.

I wasn't a Career. I had no place with them. I needed to get back to my home. A gator belonged in water, and there was plenty of that here. I found a muddy patch of ground and followed it as it slowly deepened into a creek, then a stream, then a river. The churning of the water grew loud enough to drown out any noises I made. I stripped to my underwear and stored my clothes in a hollow I dug under a rock. I slipped into the stream, which was almost warm in the tropical Arena.

Underwater, I was at home. I felt the water all around me like an old friend. It surged over my back as I lay on my belly and smeared mud on myself as a diguise. I slipped my head underwater and flipped onto my back to look up through the glasslike surface. I didn't need anyone else or anything else. I had everything I needed.

* * *

Kirsta Thales, D6

I hadn't thought about the mundane difficulties of the Games. I'd thought about being scared to sleep, even though I had no idea how scary it would really be, but there were a lot of things I'd missed. I didn't think about how hard the ground would be, and how I'd feel stiff as a board and more tired than when I went to sleep. It was disorienting to wake up outside on the ground, instead of in my bed. It had been two days already, but it felt like five minutes from the Bloodbath.

The Bloodbath had scarcely left my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw them dying all over again. They never stopped screaming in my head. I'd slept twice since then, and both times there were nightmares. I would hear a stick crack and I would jump a foot in the air. It would have been funny if I hadn't been so certain I would die. Every night was a nightmare, and it didn't stop when I woke up.

Being in the Arena showed me how much I'd been throwing away at home. I'd never missed it more, and I felt guilty about taking it for granted. I hadn't been as good as my parents deserved, especially after all they'd done for me. I wasn't one of the cute little kids everyone was rooting for because they were too innocent to die. I was a bad girl, and I wanted to make up for it. Maybe I didn't exactly deserve to win, but my parents deserved not to see me die.

If I won, I could take Mom and Dad to the Victors' Village. They'd be rich and they wouldn't have to give up anything else for me. I could take care of _them._ I'd thrown away years of my life to a drug and wasted years more being selfish and lazy. If it wasn't too late, I was going to turn that around.

* * *

Jodie Jackson, D7

I heard a river, but I also heard voices. I didn't recognize them, but I knew it wasn't any of the Careers. I skirted around the voices and stomped a little louder as I reached the edge of the trees surrounding the river. I wanted the Tributes to hear me coming. Most likely, they'd hide and I could take my water and go without trouble. Most of us didn't want a fight.

My plan to make allies hadn't panned out, so I had to get my own supplies at the Bloodbath. All I'd grabbed was one of the canteens, which was empty. I looked both ways as I knelt down by the water and filled my canteen. I didn't see the other Tributes at first, and they'd fallen silent as soon as I started walking loudly. I searched the trees and caught a glimpse of a girl's face peeking out from behind a tree to get a look at me.

"I just want some water. I'm all alone and there's plenty," I said. Her face disappeared and I heard her saying something to someone else who must have been there. The face came back after a minute.

"Okay," she said. I took my full canteen and crouched with my back against a tree.

"Can I stay around here? I won't crash your alliance or anything, but it's good to know someone else is around. It could help you, too. If the Careers kill me, you'll hear my cannon and know they're near," I said. The face disappeared again and whispered again.

"Okay," the girl said when she came back. I backed away a respectful distance so she could come out of hiding. It wasn't an alliance, exactly, but it was a step.

* * *

Cavender Jones, D8

The shiny, heart-shaped leaves told me I'd found a curare plant. It was used to cure malaria, but it was crazy poisonous if you didn't work with it first. I had to be careful not to get too much on my skin, and I picked the leaves with my hands under my shirt. It was a strange feeling to hold death in my hands, even if I didn't have a weapon to coat.

Making a weapon was easy around here. It took longer than I would have thought to find a hollow stick, but that was all I needed for a blowgun. For the darts, I only had to strip a few twigs of their bark using a rock. I had no idea how aerodynamic they were or how smooth the inside of my gun was. I shot an experimental dart and the irregularities in the gun slowed it so it barely cleared the gun. I got to work with my rock trying to smooth it out.

Something rustled, but not on the ground. I knew the Careers didn't usually climb trees, but that didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. I looked up just as the chittering started. It was high-pitched and sharp, like a cat mixed with a crying baby. I started to run as soon as I saw the mutts looking back down at me.

There was an entire pack of mutts in the tree, maybe fifteen or twenty of them. They were small, about the size of a big stuffed bear, but they looked nasty. They were some sort of monkey, with ruffed heads and blue noses standing out from their brown bodies. They had massively muscular arms and even stockier hind limbs, and they leaped through the trees like jaguars as they gave chase.

I wouldn't have known what to think even if I could have slowed down to make a plan. There was simply nowhere to go that they couldn't follow. They could run on land as well as in trees, and probably a lot faster than me. If I could get to a river and jump in, they might not follow, but I didn't know where the closest river was and how far away it was.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway. The monkey mutts ran like lightning. I heard their chittering get louder and louder, and when I looked over my shoulder, I could see their bared fangs. I heard the trees rustle as they ran overhead and got in front of me, leaving some behind to bar my escape. They were all around me, leaving no direction to run- not even up.

I took one of my darts from my pocket. I wasn't comtemplating suicide, since I didn't have to. Curare was a paralytic, though. It affected the nerves. I stabbed the dart into my hand as the monkeys closed in. I'd seen exotic locations and wildlife like I'd never imagined. I kept that in mind as the poison took affect, numbing me all over as the monkeys bared their fangs even closer.

* * *

 **16th place: Cavender Jones- Gobbled by monkeys**

 **This was mostly a case of having to thin the herd eventually. Cavender didn't do anything to make me dislike her. It was refreshing to see a rich Tribute who wasn't a Career. It's rare and all, but it could happen. There are karmic deaths in my stories, deaths caused by mistakes, and sometimes deaths you just couldn't do anything about. Thanks, IvolunteerasAuthor. I literally just noticed this was your submission (I wrote this yesterday morning in case I was too tired today after school) and I promise it has nothing to do with your story :P Just one of those funny coincidences. Anyway, Cavender wasn't try-hard and she just had a nice, concise story, which I appreciated.**


	34. Coconuts and Nuts

Marcus Wilberforce, D7

It had been almost three days, and it hadn't stopped raining. My clothes were soaked, and they were starting to smell funny. My skin was pruned all over. My fingernails were so fragile I left one behind when I lost my balance on a branch and clawed at it for stability. I was wedged into a crotch in my tree so I didn't have to worry about sliding on the slick trunk.

My backpack didn't have a canteen in it, but I'd been getting by with rainwater I caught in leaves and my hands. There _was_ a little food in there. I had a tube of some cheeselike substance that said it wouldn't go bad, but the idea of cheese that didn't go bad grossed me out by itself. I also had a pack of crackers, so I was set up for a while. I didn't have to leave my tree, and if I didn't have to, I wasn't going to.

There had been a lot of cannons for only two nights. A third of us were gone already, but not me. Everyone probably thought I'd die in the Bloodbath, but I showed them. They probably also thought I wouldn't win, and I'd have to prove them wrong there, too. Even if I didn't hate it when people thought I couldn't do anything, I just plain didn't want to die.

I hadn't seen Jodie in the sky. It would have been nice to be the only one from Seven and get all the sponsors, but I was happy she wasn't dead. It would be weird to be happy my District partner was dead, or that _anyone_ was dead. Except the Careers. That was okay.

* * *

Shinju Matsushita, D3

It was working. My skin was turning yellow, like a corpse, and my stomach churned at the thought of normal food. I felt tired, especially when it was daytime. I just wanted to lurk in the night and not feel the heat beating down on me. I liked to savor the quiet sounds of nocturnal animals welcoming me as one of them.

I hadn't eaten since Ally. I didn't need to anymore. I was a monster now. All that human stuff was behind me. No more pain, no more emotions, no more people laughing at me and excluding me. They were afraid of me now, and they should be. I was a creature of darkness, and I didn't need anyone. No one could hurt me anymore.

The night was beautiful. There had been no cannons since Cavender. That was good- it left more people for me when I decided I was ready to hunt. The others got a reprieve for a little while as I enjoyed the night. The moon shone through cracks in the leaves and bathed me in white light that didn't burn like the sun. Frogs called their light, rhythmic cries. Far in the distance, something catlike screamed. A tree quaked as some child of the night ran through the canopy. The leaves glowed with the halo of moonlight, and the subtle specks of light danced when the animal shook the leaves.

My body ached all over with the trauma of the transformation. I rested frequently, and of course I stayed hidden as soon as the sun came out. I was getting the feel for my new body, and when I was fully adjusted, I'd take my next victim. They could run, and they could hide, but no one was every going to escape me or leave me behind again.

* * *

Niko Lafont, D8

A long time ago, way before I was born, District Eight had a Victor. She was in one of the very first Hunger Games- the third, I think it was. I wouldn't have recognized Page Milani if I saw her on the street, but there was one very important thing I remembered.

"I have an idea," I said to Yara as I worked on scraping the bark from a stick and sharpening the end into a point with a rock.

"What is it?" she asked.

"We're in a good position here with the river," I said. "Jodie won't give us trouble- she's nice. We have an early warning system in case the Careers come, and we have all the water we need. The only thing left is to get food."

"There are probably tons of fruit trees if we go looking," Yara said.

"Yeah, we could go looking. Or... we could eat coconuts," I said, looking up at the cluster far above our heads.

"You're going to climb up there?" Yara asked doubtfully.

"No, I've barely seen a tree," I said. Yara had more experience, but she wasn't ready to climb a hundred feet up with nothing but her hands. I finished sharpening the spear and started pounding a hole in the shaft.

"Can you tear off a piece of vine for me?" I asked. "I'm going to thread a needle."

Yara pulled at one of the thick vines while I kept pounding at the hole. "Make it really long, please," I said, and she brought over the length as I finished the hole. I shoved the vine through the hole and tied it in place, then tied the other end to the tree I was sitting by.

"Fire in the hole," I said, and I threw the spear. It missed the coconuts and would have vanished inextricably into the greenery if I hadn't been able to reel it back in by the vine. After five more misses, the spear smacked into the cluster of coconuts, knocking one down as the spear fell.

"Double!" I cheered when I reeled the spear in and found two coconuts impaled on the tip. I smashed a coconut open and handed half to Yara. We'd been afraid we'd get diseases from the river water, but now we had coconuts.

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

I thought it was the heroic thing to do when I pretended to like my costume and let them flaunt my body. I was cheating the Capitol and using their exploitative costume to get sponsors that I would use to undermine their favorite Tributes. Rhoda said it was a good thing to do, and Rhoda was no one's fool. She knew what the Capitol was, so if she said it was okay, it had to be okay.

Later, in the Bloodbath, I told myself it was okay to not help the younger Tributes. I hadn't been by Ally, and by the time I saw Shinju on top of her, she was already half dead. But I _did_ see her, and I hadn't stopped to help. It would only have gotten me killed if I had stopped, and I couldn't help anyone if I got killed. I couldn't save everyone, and it was okay to save myself in order to help people later.

I was a good person. I hadn't killed anyone. I wasn't going to, either. I was going to be one of the good villains, like Nubu or Shane. I wouldn't let the Capitol chip away at me, making me into their image. I would never be one of their selfish, tawdry pawns. I'd done some things I wasn't proud of, but it was nothing I had to be ashamed of. If you wanted to live, sometimes you had to make hard decisions.

I wondered if Maren was thinking the same thing. I didn't think she took the idea of killing as hard as I did. She was no monster, but she was harder than I was. It was one of many reasons I didn't want to get too close to her. It was nice to be with her, and I loved hearing about her life, but we couldn't ever be any more than allies. We all wanted to win, and that meant we all wanted everyone else to die. I knew she wanted me to die eventually, and I knew because I felt the same way about her.

Guilt welled up as I thought that last thought. _Stop thinking about it,_ I told myself. _You overthink everything. You're doing fine. You're still a good person._

* * *

 **No deaths again. This time I have been trying not to force too many deaths at once. But next time I shall probably kill someone.**


	35. Jim Corbett

Attila Attard, D1

Nassor had barely said a word since we allied. He'd insisted on taking care of preparing food and gathering water, and he was always up at the crack of dawn to tidy our camp and get things ready for the day.

"What are you, a butler?" I finally asked, and he flinched a little.

"I just want to be a good ally," he said.

"I allied with you because I wanted an ally, not to trick you into thinking you were safe. I wouldn't have wasted all this time if I wanted to kill you," I said. He finally seemed to believe me, and he relaxed. He'd been knocking himself out trying to please me, and I kept telling him everything was fine. On the bright side, we had a great camp because of it. Nassor had designed and constructed a tripod-like shelter made of branches that interlocked so they all held each other steady, and we covered it with banana leaves. He'd placed a fire pit in the right spot so the air vented out and he made a spit so we could cook food. We were as comfortable as we could be outside the Cornucopia.

As far as it could be in the Arena, life was good. With the Careers, I'd always been suspicious and I couldn't ever trust them. I didn't have to worry about Nassor, and if I ever did worry, I could take him easily. The Arena was gorgeous, and I liked to sit outside and listen to all the birds as Nassor cooked or boiled water. We couldn't figure out how to make throwing knives out of wood, but we'd made a pair of spears. I sometimes caught birds or furry rodents. Nassor wasn't as lucky, but there were tons of fruit trees for him to shake or throw rocks at.

If things worked out, I wouldn't have to kill anyone else, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy. I'd hoped we'd be able to wait until everyone starved, but then I'd realized food was just as easy for them to find, too. The Career girls would take care of all they could, but they'd be looking for us as they did. I'd either have to fight them after everyone else was gone, or I'd have to fight them when they found us. Secretly, I hoped they'd take care of Nassor. I didn't _want_ to kill anyone else, but a Career was easier. We all knew what we signed on for, and I knew they'd want to die by a fellow Career. We tended to be a pretentious lot.

* * *

Yara Warsaw, D12

It was raining again. It was only a fine, misty sort of rain, so it wasn't that bad. It made rolls of mist that hung in the air and moved like clouds, and the air had a lovely wet smell. A red and yellow bird hopped up and down a branch when I poked my head out of our shelter to greet the day. We still had three coconuts, and even though they were small and didn't have much water inside, we'd been getting by.

"How's it going?" I asked Niko, who was by the river trying to spear a fish.

"I caught one," he said. He said it like he should have done better, but the fish he showed me looked very yummy.

"I'll get some water to clean it," I said. I took half a coconut and walked to edge of the river. With all the rain, the river was even thicker. If it got much bigger, we'd have to move our camp back a few feet.

As I waded into the very edge of the river, a fish darted past my leg. I jumped in surprise and lost my balance, pitching forward into the water. Suddenly, the water was deeper than my head, and it pounded at me with more force than I thought possible. I shot down the river with frightening speed, and the half coconut was knocked from my grasp and floated by me.

"Nassor!" I cried as I swept past him. He dropped his spear and lunged at me, grasping for my outstretched hand. We missed by half a foot and the water shoved me past him in a heartbeat.

I tried to put my feet down and stand up, but the water sucked my limbs ahead of me and knocked me facedown in the water. I splashed at the surface as I tried to right myself, and soon I was tumbling like a leaf. It was hard to tell which way I was going, and I breathed in snatches, afraid I would suck in water mid-breath. When I was above the water, I tried to see which was it was to shore, but even when I could see, I couldn't make any headway against the current.

The river was even deeper now. The light filtering in from above the surface was just enough that I could see snatches of sky, but I couldn't control which way I turned. I started to take in water as well as air as I gasped, and the air was getting farther away. I could see the light above the water, dancing on the turgid surface. It sparkled as I reached for it. Someone once told me drowning was the least painful way to die. As far as I could see, it was also one of the prettiest.

* * *

Jayden Chadsey, D1

"Girl power forever," I noted wryly. Gator and Attila ditched us on day one. Hero straight up died, so I couldn't blame him for that. He was the only one I really missed. Attila seemed like an okay guy, but he didn't have the eye of the tiger. Gator was a circus clown. It was me, Chrome, and Eren for the Careers this year. It was too bad about the boys, but I was confident we could make up for it.

Chrome was guarding the supplies, leaving me and Eren to hunt. She preferred to use an axe, but that had so far proven beyond our primitive weapon-making capabilities, so she'd had to settle for a spear in the meantime. I had the brass knuckles someone had helpfully sent me, so we were covered for short and long distances. We'd been having a hard time finding Tributes in the dense undergrowth, so it had been a less than stellar showing as yet. I wasn't sure who was responsible for the cannon before the sun set, but it wasn't us.

At night, we had a huge advantage. There were night-vision glasses in the Cornucopia. If we were careful enough not to be heard, we were indetectable as we hunted. We stalked the darkness like a pair of cats, searching for any sign of the hiding prey.

Later, I couldn't have told what made Eren turn around. We didn't see anything, and we didn't hear anything. Maybe she smelled something. In any case, I felt her shift. I turned to follow her movement and saw two huge, green eyes coming at us like a lightning bolt.

Eren threw the instant before the leopard reached her. It landed on her, knocking her flat and screaming at the spear in its stomach. Her spear, painstakingly whittled from a stick, wasn't nearly enough to stop an animal that size. The leopard struck at Eren's throat. She crooked her arm across her throat and the leopard hunched forward as it mauled her.

It might have been smarter to leave her, but I was what I was. I ran to the cat and punched it full force in the eye with my brass knuckles. It spat out Eren's arm and spat at me, then shot forward and bit my leg. I toppled backwards, punching it on the way down. Eren leaped up and kicked it right where the spear hit, then grabbed the broken shaft and gouged at the cat's other eye. The leopard screamed and jumped back, dropping my leg. It turned a flexibly as a snake and darted away, disappearing in a flash.

Eren and I didn't even bother with useless questions. We were busted up something fierce. We had to get back to the Cornucopia immediately.

* * *

Eren Lindell, D4

Jayden and I were leaning against each other when we stumbled back to the Cornucopia. We forgot to give the signal, and Chrome came out with her bow aimed before she saw who it was.

"Did you two kill a bear?" she asked, dropping the bow and running to our aid.

"It was a leopard, and we didn't kill it," I said. I was glad for that. It was a beautiful animal, and it was just being a leopard.

"It didn't kill us either," Jayden bragged. "We got antiseptic, right?" Chrome opened a first aid kit and dumped its contents on the ground.

"Let me get that," she said, holding a tube of antiseptic by my arm.

"I can do it," I said. I took the tube and started applying it to my arm. It didn't look great. With the flashlights at the Cornucopia, I could clearly see the inch-wide gashes in my arm that laid bare muscle and a peek of bone. I held my breath as I smeared the cream on my arm. It would keep the wound clean as well as stabilize it as it healed, but the Capitol hadn't gotten rid of the awful sting yet. It was like pouring lemon juice on the raw flesh.

I wrapped a bandage around my arm and watched as Chrome helped Jayden patch up the hole in her leg. I felt silly for getting mad at Chrome when she tried to help. I hadn't wanted to owe anyone anything, but that was useless here. None of us would ever owe each other. We all wanted to kill each other in the end. If Chrome helped me, it was because she thought it would help her somehow.

"So you two fought a leopard. Wish I could have seen it," Chrome said.

 _Yeah, we_ did _fight a leopard,_ I thought. Looking back, it had to have been five feet long. Cats that size could eat a man no problem. We didn't kill it, but it thought twice about messing with us. I was serious business. Maybe I could stop thinking about how long I could last and start thinking about winning. It was a serious thought, and it made me want to stop joking around. I could seriously win.

* * *

 **15th place: Yara Warsaw- drowned**

 **I needed to kill some girls to even things out. Yara was going to die eventually, so I picked her. I try to include some natural deaths, and in a rainforest Arena, rivers can be treacherous. I gave her a less brutal death because she was young and sweet. I didn't look forward to killing her, and it feels too soon even though it's almost halfway through. Thanks you to Coruscanti for Yara. You all know by now I have a soft spot for young Tributes. Unlike most SYOT authors, I DO permit people younger than Finnick to win, just because I want to give everyone a chance. Yara was a unique young Tribute who wasn't just cute or spunky. She was sensitive and responsible, and she would have made a lovely woman.**


	36. Gustave

**Yeah, I done goofed. It was Niko, not Nassor.**

* * *

Chrome Cabello, D2

There was a primal satisfaction in my work as I assembled my weapons. To make a bow was much easier than to make an arrow. A bow only had to propel an arrow. The arrow had to fly true and not waver in the air. I had a dozen shafts I'd painstakinly stripped with our multitool, but it remained to be seen which were usable and which would go askew because of some minute irregularity I'd missed. I still had to finish both ends of the arrows- the feathers and the points.

The outliers could celebrate today. Eren and Jayden were laid up in the Cornucopia trying not to reopen their wounds. They were sore about it in more ways than one, and they helped me make arrows in their boredom. While I carefully cut notches into the ends of my shafts, Jayden was flattening tin cans and beating them into arrowhead shapes. Eren had nearly been stymied in her quest to find feathers, but she came through in the end by ripping open a sleeping bag. They crowded around me as I put everything together.

As primal as the weapon looked, there was a great amount of advanced mathematics involved in shooting an arrow. There was calculus both in aim and design. I couldn't just jam feathers in every which way. They had to guide the air and dissipate it so the resistance didn't push the point aside. We spend hours shooting arrows at the deflated sleeping bag, which I hung from a tree as a target. Eren and Jayden cheered as my arrows got closer and closer to my target. I felt like I was learning all over again, but it was gratifyingly fast.

My arrows thudded into the target like rain, and I smiled. The outliers could rest easy tonight. Tomorrow they would rest in peace.

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

Someone thought I could do this. It wasn't often Tributes from Nine got sponsors. We were a poor District, and we hadn't had a single winner in fourty-four years. No one wanted to waste money on us. But all the same, someone had sent me a package.

Attila peeked over my shoulder as I neatly folded the parachute in case I could use it later. I opened the package and found a blowgun and six darts.

"Better be careful," Attila said when I picked one up.

"They're probably fine. It would be stupid to send a Tribute darts that might kill him if he picked them up," I said. I tapped the end of one impulsively and did not immediately die.

"Pretty cool. I wish it was throwing knives, though," Attila said. He went back to fiddling with his spear, leaving me to treasure my gift. It meant a lot to know someone believed in me enough to spend the exorbitant amount needed to send anything at all, let alone a formidable weapon. I wondered if Rhoda was proud when she saw the donations come in. Before I went to the Games, I thought I knew everything and could do it all by myself. I saw now that I needed help, whether it was Attila or someone I'd never know but was watching me from behind a screen. It was good to know I had people with me. With them, I might be able to win.

* * *

Niko Lafont, D8

 _I tore through the trees, branches scratching me and leaves whipping at my face. Any second, it could come. I didn't know when it would happen. I couldn't possibly run fast enough. There wasn't any time. It could-_

 _A cannon._

 _I didn't need to run anymore. I jerked to a stop and almost fell forward. Just as quickly, I started running again. Drowning was the only possible death where a cannon might be mistaken. There was a little boy once in my village who fell into a bathtub with just an inch of water. He was blue when they found him, and his heart wasn't beating. The Peacekeepers did some weird massage and the boy came back to life. That could happen with Yara if I found her._

 _I ran along the river, splashing occasionally when I got too close. I almost didn't find her. There was a pale spot in the water that swayed in the water. Her arm was pale as death, and so was the rest of her when I pulled her out. I laid her on her back by the river and tried to remember how it went last time._

 _The boy's brother told us the Peacekeepers pushed all the water out of his lungs and he threw it up. I put my hands on either side of Yara's ribs and pushed. She jerked, but she didn't breathe. The boy said something about the Peacekeepers kissing the boy and breathing for him. I put my mouth on Yara's, and it was cold and hard. I pushed in a breath and pushed on her lungs again. It didn't have to be over._

 _Over and over I tried, until she was stiff under me. I didn't know when to stop, since the cannon had already come. I tried over and over._

* * *

Acer Packard, D5

I had food. I would have thought I would starve before I did what I did, but real starvation wasn't the heroic endeavor people imagined when they had enough to eat. It was a desperate, dehumanizing state, and morals and repugnance were tossed aside when the mind couldn't hold the body back anymore.

It wasn't as bad as it sounded, but it still disgusted me when I remembered the first bug I ate. I'd been in my hole for three days. I'd gotten used to the squiggling across my body and in my hair. Something tickled its way across my hand, and a foreign thought possessed me. I swiveled my hand and stuffed the maggot into my mouth. It burst, oozing juice everywhere. It tasted almost buttery, and it was warm enough to feel almost like normal cooked food. I hunted around in my hair and found another maggot. I didn't know about the others, but the maggots were almost appealing.

Even with my new food source, I had to leave my shelter a few times every day to drink. The water from the river wasn't clean, but it hadn't killed me yet. I drank rainwater as much as I could, and the symptoms from the germs in the water had so far been minimal.

I checked both ways before I went to the river. The forest was quiet, and the ground underfoot grew muddy as I got closer. I knelt to scoop out some water. The surface of the river exploded in my face, and something long and scaly and massive seized my shoulders and head. Since I left my home, I'd watched a massacre, eaten the bugs that crawled in my hair, and been attacked by a crocodile. I should have stayed home.

* * *

 **14th place: Acer Packard- Eaten by crocodile mutt**

 **Acer had a strange reason to volunteer, which basically guaranteed he wouldn't be favored by most readers. All the same, I kept him around awhile, first because the Careers ignored him in favor of larger Tributes and then because I killed a bunch of boys in a row. His requested death was young Tribute or mutt, so I broke out the Nile Crocodile. Fun fact: Gator was right next to Acer when this went down, minding his own gatery business. Acer was impulsive and not always the best at judgement, but he didn't deserve this. Thanks Reader for Acer, who had real and significant flaws and none of that "he doesn't trust people" stuff.**

 **I do plan to do eulogies and all that. I've just been waiting to gather a few deaths so I could put a decent number in one chapter.**


	37. Axing the Real Questions

Erwin Jackson

Acer made it easier on me when he volunteered. I didn't have to get attached and I didn't have to miss him. Next year it would be the same old grind.

* * *

Sky Levings

It was always hardest when they were twelve. It hardly ever happened, and when it did, it always seemed to be the happy ones. We never got any nasty, bratty little kids to mentor. It was always the ones who made it even clearer how little they deserved this.

* * *

District Five

Acer's family sniffed and said that was what became of boys who acted above their station, though it was harder to be disdainful of their own flesh and blood. Ally's death hit all of us, but her sister most of all. She'd only had one thing in the world she knew would always be sunny, and it was all but impossible to chase the cloudy days away without her.

* * *

Nubu Sanders

Laicao was a foregone conclusion, and I just hoped he found peace. Yara was another foregone conclusion, but not so much there wasn't hope. I never could stop hoping.

* * *

District Twelve

The children say Laicao came back and haunts the mines. The workers move quicker when they're alone in the shafts. Yara had always been quiet, but the Warsaw house was silent without her.

* * *

 **ACER PACKARD-** Gator Voyage

That was no crocodile. From my perch in the mud, I could see it when it sprang from the water. I hadn't noticed it until then, but when it struck, I saw it was long and curled in the middle, like an anaconda. It had fangs like a snake but as many as a gator. It was an abomination.

 **CAVENDER JONES-** Niko Lafont

I hadn't known Cavender, but it was eerie to see my partner in the sky. She was from home, and I was all the more alone now.

 **YARA WARSAW-** Marcus Wilberforce

I must have been the only twelve-year-old left. I was quick and clever, but I had to watch myself even more carefully now. I was definitely the biggest target.

* * *

Eren Lindell, D4

That Capitol stuff worked fast. I still had a red tender spot on my arm, but it was all in one piece and I had some nice new skin covering the muscles. Jayden volunteered to guard the Cornucopia and have one more day for her leg to heal, so Chrome and I were on the hunt. We were going to split up until we remembered about Attila and Nassor. Better not to court danger.

In the thick undergrowth, it was hard to move silently. Chrome and I each looked in one direction for any sign of fleeing or hiding Tributes. A twig dropped in front of my face, and I almost looked up. I stopped at the last second, and Chrome caught my smile.

"We got a monkey," I said. "Act natural." I turned around and pretended we were starting toward the Cornucopia. Chrome followed my lead, and I pretended to stumble over a rock. As I hit the ground, I tucked the rock into my hand. I stood back up and pivoted sharply, catching the Tribute in my sights and throwing the rock before he had time to react.

* * *

Marcus Henry Wilberforce, D7

Someone was coming. They weren't very loud, and I suspected they were either mutts or Careers. I froze in position, afraid even moving to a better hiding place would attract their attention. I peeked down at the ground to see who would appear.

It was Eren and Jayden. They were scanning the undergrowth, looking for Tributes like me. I was far above their heads, and they didn't seem to be looking up. I tried not to breathe as they walked underneath me. My muscles tensed, and one leg slid against the trunk I was scrunched up against. I bit of bark sloughed off and fell. I could only watch as it dropped in front of Eren's face. My heart pounded in my chest, but she didn't look up. She turned to her friend and they started off in a different direction. I leaned against the trunk and shut my eyes in relief as I started to breathe.

Something smacked into the back of my head with the force of a baseball. I jerked so suddenly I lost my grip on the tree. My stomach fell as I tipped backwards and toppled out of the tree. I smacked against a branch on the way down, wrenching my back. I landed on my back, out of breath and dazed.

"You hit something," Chrome joked, and she sounded far away. "Gonna keep it?"

"He's pretty banged up. I better not," Eren said. She raised her axe with both hands and brought it down toward my neck. It was nice to see an axe again, though it wasn't the best of circumstances. It looked just like home.

* * *

Maren McRae, D11

"There goes another one," I said when the cannon went off. "It's never enough, is it?"

Jeanie didn't say anything. We were gathering food, like we did most of the day when we weren't gathering water. We'd found a low-hanging cashew tree and were busy picking the nuts off, careful not to scuff our hands against the tops of the fruits, which could cause irritation. I knew from my studies in the Capitol that we had to roast cashews before we ate them, but for the moment, we were just gathering them.

"This isn't right. None of this is right," I said. Jeanie looked at the ground.

"It's just the way it is," she said.

"You think it's right?" I challenged.

"I'm just trying to stay alive," she said.

"You shouldn't _have_ to try," I said. "This is garbage. It can't go on forever."

"You shouldn't talk like that," Jeanie said. She looked scared, but I had no time for sympathy.

"If no one talks like that, nothing will ever change. They can't kill me twice," I said. They wouldn't show any of this on the cameras. If I didn't win, they didn't have to punish a dead girl. If I won, I wanted to know I didn't live only because I gave them what they wanted.

"I'm going to get some water," Jeanie said. She didn't want to be associated with me. I could accept that. I wanted to know where loyalties lay before trouble hit. If she was going to back out when things got tough, I only asked that she gave me warning.

* * *

 **13th place: Marcus Henry Wilberforce- Axed by Eren**

 **Marcus was a quick thinker and a quicker acter. He made the best of a raw deal, getting Reaped so young. With the Careers looking for bigger targets, he was able to last a long time. The odds were stacked too high for him to win, but he showed everyone who underestimated him their mistake. I forgot who submitted Marcus since it changed so much, but thanks. He was clever but not unrealistic for his age.**


	38. Queen of the Damned

Jayden Chadsey, D1

It had been too long since my last real hunt. I was finally better after getting mauled by a leopard, and I'd thrown myself right back in action. I was the one who flushed the prey out, and I was flushed myself with exhileration. We must have looked terrifying on the cameras. The girl was fleeing full tilt before us as we crashed through the jungle, unafraid and determined. I glistened with sweat and my muscles were tense with strain. _Who's glitz and glamor now?_

It was difficult to chase anyone in such a dense Arena. The girl dodged and ducked between trees, running in a serpentine pattern. I had to keep my eyes on her while at the same time avoiding any irregular patches or stones that might trip me up or allow her to escape. My breath was painful in my raw throat and my side ached with a runner's stitch, but I almost welcomed the pain. It showed how devoted I was.

I heard Chrome stop beside me. I kept running, trusting her aim. The arrow flew next to my elbow and hit the fleeing girl in the leg. She stumbled but kept running with the arrow still sticking out. I heard the whistle as Chrome shot again and another air flew into the girl's back. I knew Chrome wasn't trying to make it slow. She was just aiming at the largest target. A head was smaller than a pair of legs.

Chrome shot again as the girl tried to get up. She had been far ahead of us, almost out of sight, but I was gaining rapidly as the arrows slowed her down. Chrome didn't bother to start running again. She stayed where she was as shot the rest of her arrows, all six of them, one after another. The girl stopped trying to get up after the fifth- the final arrow was to speed things up.

* * *

Shinju Matsushita, D3

There was a wooden stake in my hand. Someone who knew what I was sent it to me. I should have been scared of it, but it mesmerized me. I didn't think it was possible for my kind to destroy itself, but just the thought was mesmerizing.

Even for a monster, pain and emotion weren't gone. I had never been so alone as when I came into the Arena. I finally succeeded in pushing everyone in the world away so none of them could ever hurt me, but I still hurt. There wasn't any end to it. I was immortal now, and that only meant it would hurt forever.

Even my body hurt. Everything ached, especially my insides. Maybe I was rotting away. That's what I was now, wasn't it? A corpse, decaying on the inside even though the outside looked the same. I didn't want to eat anymore. I didn't even want to move. My hair used to be sleek and glossy, but it lay flat against my head as I lay on the ground.

Nothing had changed in my soul. I wasn't sorry for what I'd done, and I would have done it again if it meant anything would change. A thousand years of living death wouldn't be enough for me to take out all the bitterness and pain I had toward the people around me, but that wasn't important anymore. I'd finally found the way to escape it all.

The sun was rising. I was on the edge of a small cliff surrounded by a clearing, so I could see the corona edging up over the horizon. It hurt at first to see it, but then it started to go away. I thought it would burn, but it just seemed to leech my life away as I watched it drift up in the sky. It was so bright it burned my eyes, but I didn't look away. I'd been hiding from the sun ever since the day I killed Ally, but I didn't look away.

* * *

Kirsta Thales, D6

My breath tore at my throat and my legs shook with spasms as I ran. I knew they were coming for me. They were so sure of catching me they didn't bother to run silently. I heard the crashing and the ripping as they broke through the leaves on their way toward me.

Sometimes it's too late. I broke free of morphling, but not everyone was so lucky. It used to be I'd go to squalid parties to shoot up with friends, and we didn't always all make it home. Sometimes I went to the bathroom and found one friend or another lying against the wall, their limbs clawed and gripping at nothing as they tried to hold themselves together. They always looked so regretful. They'd seen their mistake and too late tried to take it back. They thought of families and futures and all the things they'd miss if they continued on their path, but it was too late. The path had already run out.

I'd wanted to get back to my parents and make things right with them, but sometimes it's too late. As soon as I was marked for the Arena, the path was already coming to an end. I ran as fast as I could, but Chrome's arrow found my leg. The jagged point sheared my tissue and I fell forward, but I pushed off the ground and kept running. Another arrow stuck into the base of my back, and I felt a nerve sever and release agony all down by back.

Three arrows, then four, then five. The fourth hit me between the ribs and shoved me forward onto my hands and knees, and the fifth hit the back of my collarbone and knocked me flat. Warm sweat mingled with warm blood, coating me all over in dampness. I sensed Chrome pulling back another arrow even though I couldn't see it. I knew it would be the end of my path.

For all but one of us, it was too late. For whoever won, it might be victory that made it too late. Like an addict experiencing one final instant of clarity, I had a handful of seconds left to spend in the only way I could imagine.

"I love you, Mom and Dad. I'm sorry."

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

There had been two cannons since morning. The Careers were busy. We could only hope they were satisfied with their take.

"There's no one to stop them," Maren said after the second cannon. We were sitting around a tiny fire, roasting cashews. It made us both nervous, since we weren't sure whether to make a big fire, roast the nuts faster, and risk being seen, or make a smaller fire that had less risk of being seen but was still a risk, and have to keep it burning longer. We'd gone with the smaller one, and we were crowded on either side to reduce its visibility.

"Maybe they'll all kill each other," I said. It happened sometimes.

"They're smart this year," Maren said darkly. "They'll split up peacefully, knowing the survivors will die faster if all the Careers are left to kill them. Once we're all gone, they'll sneak around ambushing each other until the smartest is left." She had her rebellious expression on, even though she hadn't said anything provoking. I should have steered the conversation away, but it would beuseless in the end. Maren was Maren, through and through.

"They always win," I said, like I'd given up hope. I knew Maren would have something to say about that, and she did.

"Everything's in their favor. They're slaves of the Capitol, and they don't even follow the rules. None of us are supposed to train. But that doesn't apply to them," she said.

"It won't go on forever," I said.

"No. It can't go on forever. Empires rise and empires fall, and someday they'll get theirs," Maren said.

"Things aren't so bad the way they are," I said. If Maren had spent more time around people, she would have known I was lying.

"Not so bad? They're killing kids! How could it be any-" She stopped, because I grabbed the unburnt end of one of the fire logs and brought it against her head like a baseball bat. It made a hollow thunk and she fell forward, almost into the fire.

I didn't know I was that strong. Her head was lopsided and dented, and clear fluid leaked out along with the blood. A patch of her hair smoldered from the burning log, and a few embers glowed among the strands. "You should have watched your words," I said.

There had been three cannons since morning.

* * *

 **12th place: Shinju Matsushita- Hepatitis**

 **Aren't I a scamp, putting the POVs out of chronological order to mess with you? Shinju died at daybreak, then Kirsta shortly later. Maren was in the afternoon. Anyway, I always seem to take the crazy ones as a challenge to see if I can make anyone like them. Shinju was a murderer and that's pretty hard to look past, but I have sympathy for child murderers. No one is born that way. Something happened to those people to make them like that, and all I see when I look at them is the innocence that got lost somewhere. I actually wanted to develop Shinju into a redeemed Victor, but you all wanted her gone and I wouldn't do that to you. I hope she is submitted to a Resurrection Games and maybe then I can make something happen. Thanks DamBaudelaires for Shinju, who was oddly perhaps my favorite this year.**

 **11th place: Kirsta Thales- Shot by Chrome**

 **Addict Tributes always get a lot of disapproval. I can see why, but these are kids we're dealing with. Kids are dumb, and if their lives are so crappy they turn to drugs, it's not entirely their fault. Kirsta grew a lot during the Games, which impresses me. I appreciate Tributes who come in with flaws and lessons to learn. It means they have less chance of reader approval and therefore victory, but it's more realistic and makes a much better story. Kirsta didn't do anything to make me kill her. It just happened because there's 24 people and only one can not die. Thanks MRKenn for Kirsta. She became a better person, despite everyone who was ready to count her out.**

 **10th place: Maren McRae- Brained by Jeanie**

 **Maren was a rebel, and people who make those characters generally know there's little chance of winning. For me, it was more a question of how to kill her than whether to kill her. When she allied with Jeanie, whose form noted she would kill her ally after they said something unflattering, everything aligned perfectly. Maren refused to change or bow to the Capitol, even unto death. Thanks Socksfeetandstirringsand for coming through in a pinch and making a character so good you would never know she was so quick.**

 **I thought about splitting up these three dramatic moments, but I went for it and made one big gut-punch chapter.**


	39. Sucker Punch

Acee Hal

The monster was gone. I didn't know why she was crying at the end. Jack was gone too. This happened most years. It never got better, but it got not as bad.

* * *

District Three

The children said Shinju haunted the bedroom and lurked under beds. To the orphans who arrived in later years, a "shinju" was a legendary monster, never seen but always imagined. People remembered Shinju, but they missed Jack.

* * *

Toby Cash

They let me go back home again. Sometimes it took longer than other times. All it meant to me was that I didn't have to deal with all the noise and people anymore. Pity the boy and girl couldn't come along, though.

* * *

District Six

We thought for sure there must have been a measure of relief when the Thales no longer had to care for their wayward daughter, but they never showed it. A daughter is a daughter, and the only thing they felt was loss. Aran's family handled it about the same way he did. By the time they realized he was really gone, it would be distant enough not to hurt as much.

* * *

Frankie Disney

Maren might have won if she hadn't talked so much. It felt strange to judge her for what I found so endearing in Jayson, but it was what she talked about that mattered. People like her weren't allowed to win. Jeanie just scored herself some points for what would have been done either way. As for Jayson, he put others first. Those people only ever lived if they failed.

* * *

District Eleven

We all felt like cowards after Maren. We all died eventually, but some of us went our whole lives without saying anything. We remembered Jayson as a hero who was and Maren as a hero who might have been.

* * *

 **SHINJU MATSUSHITA-** Jodie Jackson

The monster was gone. Even the Careers weren't as scary as she was.

* * *

 **KIRSTA THALES-** Niko Lafont

We were running out of people who weren't Careers. They'd be coming for the rest of us.

* * *

 **MAREN MCRAE-** Jeanie Clay

Good people didn't kill their allies.

* * *

Gator Voyage

There was something in the water with me. I floated in the river like a log and hoped it wasn't so twisted it didn't sense movement like a normal gator. It was a long, horrible thing with a twisting body and a long tail, longer than most gators back home. After it took Acer, it merged back with the water and vanished. I couldn't see it in the turgid river, and I could only guess how close it was.

I had two choices. I could stay with the monster or leave the river. This monster was even worse than the gators back home, and they were unpredictable at best and at times downright murderous. If it found me, it wouldn't be some cute scene from a book where the cuddly animal and the friendly boy make friends. On the other hand, if I left the river, I would lose my only advantage. I'd been running on neutral ever since the Games began. I hadn't run into any trouble and I'd immediately found my element. It had seemed to good to be true, and it was. It wasn't going to be like that anymore.

The trees were bright with sunlight when I hauled myself from the river. I would have been sweltering if I wasn't covered with cool water. The river gurgled behind me, and I looked back at it with regret. It was the only friend I had here. It was infected now, infected with a mutated beast that took a piece of my home and made it poisonous.

* * *

Jodie Jackson, D7

There was no need to panic. Chrome was stalking me, but she wasn't close enough to hit me yet. How did I know that? Because her arrow thudded into a three five feet away from me. I took off at a run, threading between the trees. I caught glimpses of her as she chased after me. She was fast, but she wasn't gaining. If I could think of a plan, I didn't have to panic.

I had some options. I could keep running and hope she tired before I did. I was the one running for my life, so it was a likely outcome. I could try to lose her in the thick trees, but she was doing a good job of keeping up. I could dart ahead in a final sprint and climb a tree. Arrows didn't shoot terribly far, especially since her bow seemed to be homemade. If I got high enough, I wouldn't have to worry about her at all. The canopy was so thick the arrows wouldn't be able to reach me.

I ran in a curve, and Chrome ran out on my flank. I turned sharply and leaves crunched under my feet as I pivoted. Chrome stumbled as she turned to follow, and I gained some distance on her. I scanned the forest ahead for trees with low-hanging branches or vines I could climb. I ran past a fast mossy tree-

I was on the ground, facing up at the sky. My face was on fire and my mouth was covered in blood. Two girls were standing over me. They raised their hands and smacked them together in the air.

"Bullseye," Chrome said.

"Feels like I punched a rock," Jayden said.

"Like herding sheep," Chrome said, and she looked down at me. Jayden looked down after her and smiled.

 _How was I supposed to deal with that?_ I thought as Jayden drew back for another strike. Everything was on their side. That was why things were so hard in Panem. The poor got poorer and the rich got richer.

* * *

 **9th place: Jodie Jackson- Concussion caused by Jayden**

 **There were a lot of good Tributes this year. There were a lot of ways the placings could have gone. I killed Jodie here because the Careers are cracking down and they're scarily clever. She had a lot going for her, but it takes an awful lot to win the Games. Thanks to Birkarandareader for Jodie, who had a lot do with her life and would have done it all if the Capitol hadn't interfered.**


	40. Amoral

Attila Attard, D1

"What could you make with the things in the Cornucopia?" I asked Nassor.

"What was there?" he asked.

"Wire, metal pots and pans, tools, rope... probably whatever you need," I said. I wondered which of the minutiae I passed over because I didn't think to mention it would be a critical discovery in Nassor's mind.

"Maybe some sort of projectile weapon. I guess it depends on what's there," he said. "Why?"

"There's three girls at the Cornucopia, assuming they haven't split up. None of them are dead, so it's not likely. We can't move with all three of them there, but as soon as we see any one of them in the sky, we can move in. Any two of them will still be strong, but you're strong and I'm a Career. We can do it if we're smart. You smart?" I asked.

"I, uh... I think so," Nassor said. In the training room, I'd have expected him to answer without hesitation.

"You're not sure?" I asked, making sure to be obvious that I was teasing and not questioning him.

"I don't know. It's just good not to get a big head, you know?" he said. I was glad to hear that. It meant that Nassor was getting wiser and would be an even more helpful ally until the time came to split up. And when the time did come to split up, if someone else didn't take care of him like I was hoping, he wouldn't think he'd be able to fight me, and him thinking that would make it true.

* * *

Chrome Cabello, D2

Eren didn't enjoy the hunt as much as Jayden, which was fine with me. She'd grown more intense and less jovial during the Games. I had thought when I came in that Jayden was the only girl I had to worry about, and I was glad I didn't learn my lesson too late.

We had no idea who we were chasing. It was a male, but he was plastered with mud. It could have been anyone. We only got glimpses of him through the trees anyway. We hadn't been able to set up another diversion plan. The boy suprised us as much as we surprised him, and all we could do was chase after him.

The trees opened into a clearing, and the boy switched directions to run right at the river running through the grass. He splayed out an arm for balance and I knew exactly who we were chasing.

"Crap, it's Gator," Eren said, and she slowed down. She wasn't scared of him, of course. It was just he was her District partner. Etiquette got sponsors, even in the Arena.

"Don't worry," I said. I shot an arrow, and the lack of trees made it easy. Unfortunately, Gator moved at the last second, and the arrow caught him in the side of the chest and not the heart. He lurched the rest of the way to the river and disappeared under the water, a red stain spreading from the spot where he entered. I ran closer to shoot him again before he swam away.

"Careful!" Eren yelled. She darted in front of me and put out her arm to bar my way. The water roiled as an arm shot out and grabbed her ankle. It yanked her into the river before I was fully stopped. I stepped back and trained my bow on the water, waiting for movement. Eren likely wouldn't need any help. A girl from Four could swim.

* * *

Gator Voyage

The world wasn't fun and colorful here. The colors remained, but most of them were red. The animals here weren't innocent hissers who only bit you because that was what hissers did. People here didn't run after you to help. They were the ones you were running from.

Everything was twisted here. I didn't want any part of a world like this. As the girls came after me, I ran to the only thing I knew: the river. I didn't stop when the arrow hit me. Stopping would only mean dying. I wanted to die in the water.

The girls didn't understand the laws of the bayou. One of them came too close. It must have been Chrome- Eren would have known better. I grabbed her leg and dragged her into the water. She was in my world now. I wrapped my arm around her and twisted, thrashing so she wouldn't know which way was up. The water muffled her strikes as she hit back at me, and a weapon floated away atop the water as we fought.

I didn't come in here wanting to kill anyone. That was something only animals did, and it was only okay when animals did it. After living with humans this long and seeing what they did, it was better to be an animal. Chrome wouldn't be killing anyone else. I wouldn't have been guilty even if I had been human.

The water was beautiful and cool as we washed down the stream. I was where I belonged.

* * *

Eren Lindell

It was ridiculous. A girl from Four couldn't drown. I could swim as well as I could walk. I swam _before_ I could walk. But it wasn't that that was keeping me under the surface. It was Gator, wrapped around me and weighing me down. Blood was pouring from him, coloring the brown water rusty red. I punched and kicked at him, but the water muffled my blows. He wrapped both legs around my waist and clutched me like a spider clutches a fly. He knew what he was doing. He was a big, muscular boy, and it only took a few minutes.

The current pushed us both down the river, far from where Chrome could help me. Gator's grip was getting weaker, and I pushed at him almost frantically as my lungs started to burn. My back smashed against something, and air rushed from my mouth as I barely caught myself before gasping. Gator's weight shoved up heavily against my chest, almost crushing me with the added weight of the rushing water. I could barely reach the bottom of the river, and I braced my feet against it, pushing up toward the surface. The torrential water pinned me almost immobily in place. Tears stung my eyes as well as debris as I looked up.

The surface was inches away. I wanted to cry, it was so close. I could see the light dancing on the surface. I put my hand through it and made a fist, trying to bring a handful of air to my mouth. A distant sound shook the water, and I hoped it was Gator's cannon. He wasn't moving anymore, but the water was still pressing him against me so hard I couldn't hope to shift him. I strained my neck and arched my back, bringing my mouth less than an inch from the surface. My hair drifted upand reached the air I couldn't.

It couldn't happen. A girl from Four couldn't drown. It was the thing I was better at than anything else. Instead of trying to push Gator off me, I twisted into the direction of the current, rolling him partially off me with the water's help. Water wasn't my enemy. It was my lifesaver. My head was as light as the air above me as I pushed off Gator and toward the surface. My face broke through and I gasped in air and life as I hauled myself up on the rock. Gator's body drifted away as I lay flat on the rock gathering my breath. I trailed my hand in the water as I panted. I knew it wouldn't happen. Water wasn't death for Four. It was life.

* * *

 **8th place: Gator Voyage- drowned**

 **Gator was controversial at first. I loved him- I'd never seen a Cajun tribute and I thought it was the coolest, cleverest thing. It fit the Fiur culture perfectly. It was unfortunately difficult for him to win, both because of his arm and his nature, but it was fun while it lasted. He lost some innocence as he saw so many people hunting, but he made it home in the end. Thanks Everlastingimpression for Gator. He's in with Floki and Hailey as some of the most original and treasured Tributes I've ever gotten.**

 **Ooh you so lucky Loki! I wrote this yesterday and it had Eren also drowning right after the penultimate paragraph. I had the eulogy written and everything, but I changed my mind five minutes ago when I went to publish it. I loved the irony of both Fours drowning, but I felt bad killing Eren so suddenly. She's developed a lot and I decided she deserves better.**

 **My current plan for the next Resurrection Games is after two more normal Games, since I have two Arenas I want to use. EVERYONE submitted gets taken, so don't worry about getting in! Don't even worry if you have no one to resurrect. I take new Tributes!**

 **Living: Chrome, Jayden, Niko, Nassor, Attila, Jeanie, Eren**


	41. Trust

Chrome Cabello, D2

Neither Eren nor Gator came back up. I only heard one cannon, and it had to be Gator. I waited by the river for a few minutes, but Eren must have been pretty far downstream. It could take her a long time to come back, especially if she was exhausted or wounded. It would be better to go back and tell Jayden what happened, and we could both go looking for her. If we did decide to look for her.

It was a long walk back to the Cornucopia. It was unsettling to have to watch my back as I went. I was alone, and Attila would seize his moment if he saw me. I wasn't afraid of him, but it was better to have the advantage of numbers. As I walked, I had time to think about Eren. It was a long way into the Games. The pack would have broken up soon anyway. It might be wisest for me and Jayden to leave her. She could be mortally wounded, or maybe she'd take the sign and split off. It might have been wisest not to go back to Jayden at all and break up the pack spontaneously and peacefully. The only reason I didn't was I didn't want to leave her all the supplies.

I made plenty of noise as I approached the Cornucopia. We had a signal, but Jayden might get spooked if she thought someone was sneaking up on her. I saw her peeking out from the behind the mouth of the Cornucopia as I approached.

"Where's Eren?" she asked.

"Gator pulled her into the river. Think we should look for her?" I asked.

* * *

Jayden Chadsey, D1

 _Eren fell into the river? And that cannon was Gator's? Convenient._

I came into this trusting my allies as much as any Career could. I knew, though, that if anyone betrayed us, it would be Chrome. She was so cold and calculating. She wanted to live, not to win. Rules of warfare were inaffordable luxuries to her. She said Eren fell in a river. Maybe it was true, but I couldn't know. I only knew one ally was missing and one cannon had sounded.

"Maybe it's best this way," I said, waiting to see how she'd respond. If Eren really did fall in the river and Chrome really did care, she'd argue. She'd say we needed to help our imperiled ally.

"I thought you might say that. We're getting down to the wire. We're not the Three Musketeers anymore," she said.

"No, I guess not," I said. I sat down next to our fire and took some packaged dehydrated meals from a bag. "Lunch?" I asked.

"What you got?" she asked, smiling in a way that somehow communicated she was trying to fake a brave smile when really she was just faking a smile.

"Dehydrated... soup?" I said, reading from a packet. "Just add water, I guess."

"I got some of that," Chrome said, reaching into her pack for a bottle. I bent to retrieve the cast iron pot we used on our spit. As I rose, I turned and swung it like a mace, just like Chrome had swung the canteen in the Bloodbath.

Chrome sensed the attack at the last second and ducked just enough to avoid having her head smashed in. The pot hit her across the shoulder, and I felt the bones crack as she went down. As soon as she hit the ground, I jumped onto her and planted my knees on both sides of her ribs as I started to go at her. My first fit flattened her nose, and I knew she'd be tearing up almost too much to see. She batted at me with both arms, but I was in my element and she was out of hers. A bow wouldn't do any good when we were this close, even if she could have reached it. Brass knuckles, on the other hand, were made for this.

She shouldn't have killed our ally. I would have been loyal til the end. All she got herself was two cannons.

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

I killed Maren. This meant a lot of things. It meant I was willing to kill. It also meant I was _able_ to kill. I had both the ability and motive to become the villain, and I wasn't sure I hadn't. I couldn't live with myself if that was true, and I thought deeper about it as I moved camp to get away from Maren's vengeful ghost.

 _Everyone left has killed someone,_ I thought. Chrome and the others were Careers. The cannons were probably for Niko and Gator. That only left Nassor. I heard around town that he made a flamethrower once. Anyone who could make a flamethrower could use it. He wouldn't have lasted this long without killing. They were all as bad as I was.

As bad as I was. It wasn't "I'm a good person" anymore. It was "They're bad, too." I wasn't trying to be the good guy. I was trying to be the least of the bad guys. Being the least of the bad guys didn't give me any points.

I needed to stop thinking about it. It was all a futile exercise in philosophy that I couldn't afford. I had to focus on staying alive, or everything I'd sacrificed would be for nothing. It was stupid to beat myself up over nothing. I hadn't done anything wrong. Everyone did what they had to in order to live. That wasn't wrong, it was just self-preservation.

I cleaned up all our things and left our camp like it was nothing. I didn't want to be there anymore. I ran away from the awful place, leaving Maren behind. Running away from Maren, really. Or running away from something else.

* * *

 **7th place: Chrome Cabello- Beaten to death by Jayden**

 **I get a lot of reluctant Careers, but most are because they decide they don't like killing. Chrome was reluctant because she decided she didn't like dying. She had the philosophy of an outlier with the skills of a Career, and it got her a long way. She never had it in for any of her allies, but she would have betrayed them when the time came. It was a misunderstanding that led to her death, but the pack would have broken up soon anyway. Jayden and Eren gravitated toward loyalty. Chrome gravitated toward herself. She was straightforward about her selfishness and never put on airs. Thanks Snowstar for Chrome, who fit into neither the Bloodthirsty Career nor the Atoning Career stereotypes.**

 **Be sure to check out bettyy's new story** **s/12412292/1/The-Last-Petal-The-60th-Hunger-Games!**


	42. Punch-Drunk

Pray Jager

Win some, lose some. Chrome didn't have the eye of the tiger. She just didn't want to die, which I understood. We all learned a lesson. We at the Academy had to do a better job judging enthusiasm as well as skill. What happened to Hero was beyond my understanding. What was he thinking? It was opposite to everything I knew.

* * *

District Two

We were divided on Hero. Some said he deserved the name, some said anything but. Eren better win it. She better not waste this. Jessie Cabello started training harder after Chrome. She knew she wouldn't be able to resist her father forever.

* * *

Sequoia Wilson

Marcus surprised us all. I was just starting to hope he might win when he died. I shouldn't have been so hasty. Jodie made it farther, but that wasn't a surprise. The Careers were brutal this year. I didn't think any of the rest of them had a chance.

* * *

District Seven

Jodie's parents requested donations in lieu of memorials for Jodie's funeral. Seven came through like never before. A lot of children were blessed by Jodie even in death, which was how she would have wanted it. And we all learned that the littlest Tributes can go farther than we could imagine.

* * *

 **JODIE JACKSON-** Jeanie Clay

Just Nassor and me now. Just us and the Careers.

 **TILLIAN VOYAGE-** Jayden Chadsey

 _Oh my god._ She was telling the truth. She wasn't the traitor.

 **CHROME CABELLO-** Eren Lindell

 _What happened to Chrome?_ Gator was dead. He couldn't have grabbed her again. No one else was strong enough. Jayden was too loyal. Attila, maybe?

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

One last fight. When Attila and I saw Chrome in the sky, we knew it was our time. It was Eren and Jayden against him and me. It was a gutsy move. I wasn't a Career. Most of the fight would be on him.

I knew what he was thinking. He knew I wasn't as strong as the other three fighters. He anticipated both the girls would be dead, or he wouldn't pick the fight. He also anticipated _I_ would be dead at the end. I didn't blame him for it. He didn't want to kill me, but he needed me dead. This way he didn't have to do it, and this way I could help him with the girls before I went.

There wasn't any way around it, either. If I tried to leave, Attila would have to kill me. If I went to the Cornucopia and tried to defect, the girls would kill me as much as Attila would. He had me in a stalemate. All I could do was ride the game out to the end.

"Hey, look what's right on time!" Attila said. He pointed up to a parachute gliding toward the ground. He ripped it open and exposed a belt of throwing knives.

"That makes things easier. We were going to have to go in with sticks and a blowgun you've never used," he said.

"Yeah, that's great," I said. He caught the unenthusiastic tone.

"You worried?" he asked.

"A little. It's a tough fight," I said. Honesty was the best policy here. I didn't want him to think I was lying to him.

"Go big or go home," he said with a shrug. "If we go out, it's been fun." We shook hands and set off.

I tried to copy Attila's light steps as we neared the Cornucopia. It was hard to concentrate when I kept imagining the arrow that could fly into my head at any second. Attila silently bent back a branch, exposing the clearing surrounding the Cornucopia. An arrow didn't come flying at my head.

It was a frying pan.

* * *

Jayden Chadsey, D1

Nassor managed to dodge my frying pan to the face, but he reared back in surprise and retreat. The second after I aimed, I threw myself down across the Cornucopia and rolled, tucking myself behind a backpack. Nassor wouldn't attack without an ally. A knife thrown over my head proved me right. I scooped up the backpack and held it as a shield, backing around so the Cornucopia was behind me and no one could sneak up.

Only one living competitor used throwing knives. I was up against Nassor and Attila. Nassor was likely a decoy meant to distract me while Attile snuck up. I'd gotten past that part of the attack, but he'd have backups.

"Where's Eren?" Nassor asked, aiming the question at Attila, who appeared from diagonally across the Cornucopia from Nassor. Nassor looked over his shoulder after asking.

"She must be hunting," Attila said, and a bit of hope died in me. If they thought she was close by, they might abandon the attack rather than get snuck up on. Obviously that wasn't their plan.

I had two options. I could run for the forest, hoping I got there before Attila's knife got me. Or I could run toward him and maybe get inside his stroke. Really, the choice was between a knife in my front or in my back. I chose front.

When I saw Attila was about to throw, I jumped, guessing he'd aim at my legs and not my head, expecting me to shield it. I was right, and I was able to reach and tackle him before he threw again. I also expected he'd expect me to punch his nose, knowing the tear response would blind him. Instead, I punched his collarbone, fracturing it and making any movement associated with throwing extremely painful. He grabbed my throat, but I kept punching. It was near impossible to strangle someone one-handed. I could break the hold if it got serious.

Nassor ran at me from the side. I swept out a leg and tripped him. He got on his knees and grabbed my ponytail. He hauled me off Attila, or more accurately hauled Attila into a sitting position with me still attached. Attila took advantage of the new leverage to flop forward onto me, and Nassor sat next to him, both of them holding me in place. I strained to bite at them as they prepared for what came next.

Attila took out another throwing knife and held it with his undamaged arm. I noted with satisfaction that his face was far less undamaged. He was aiming so his stroke would sever the spinal cord, and I smiled in appreciation. I had known from the start that two against one was a stiff fight. There was no glitz and glamor here. Just brass knuckles, a shattered collarbone, and bright red blood.

* * *

 **6th place: Jayden Chadsey- stabbed by Attila**

 **Jayden was different from most One girls I get. I usually get One girls with a hint of glitz and glamour, just like she hated, and Two girls that are incredibly tough and good with leadership. Jayden was much more practical, and I liked that. She also had her friendly side- I get lots of Careers that don't like each other, which makes total sense, but Jayden really got along with her allies. Attila might catch a little flack for killing his partner, but Jayden would appreciate a fellow One Tribute being so tough. Thanks Aceswims for Jayden. Her weapon made it so she wasn't OP, and her balanced personality made it so she wasn't a Sue.**

 **As you can see, I skipped the Final Eight interviews. Sometimes I do those if people ask, but I often skip them because they're always going to be the same thing.**


	43. Okay, Here You Go

Niko Lafont, D8

I couldn't believe it. I was in the final five. It was me, Nassor, Eren, Attila, and Jeanie. I wasn't surprised about any of them. Two were Careers, Nassor was a genius, and Jeanie just somehow seemed like the type to be here. I was the only oddball. I was a follower, not a leader. I didn't belong with the final five, leading the final push to victory.

The rainforest was always alive with noise, and yet it seemed quiet to me. I didn't like not hearing Ally singing some goofy song, or Jayson telling me how he named his biceps Hercules and Samson, or Yara humming as she stirred a pot. The crying birds and snapping twigs were just faraway background noise. I wanted to hear a human again.

"Just great! Washed halfway to District Twelve. Just great!"

A voice was coming from beside the river. I couldn't tell who it was, especially from so far away. I knew I shouldn't court danger, but it would be good to know who it was. If it was one of the Careers, I had to clear out. It sounded like a girl, and it sounded friendlier than Jayden. The Careers seemed to still be together, so it was probably Jeanie. She might want an ally. Two outliers had a better chance against two Careers.

I snuck closer to the voice and hid behind a tree to peek out. I caught a glimpse of Eren and ducked back behind the tree. As I did, a chunk of the wet, soggy bark fell off in my hands. I pitched sideways and splatted on the ground. Eren's head snapped up and she looked right at me. Our eyes locked as she decided whether to chase after me while still waterlogged and tired. Someone had sent her a gift, though. She was holding two axes, and it only took her a minute to decide.

* * *

Eren Lindell

I'd been walking almost all night, stopping only to catch a rest in a patch of thick grass. It was a long way back to the Cornucopia. Seemed Chrome had kicked it sometime last night. I should have been sadder, since I almost got myself killed trying to save her, but it was more a reflex than a relationship. If I had to lose an ally, better Chrome than Jayden. Chrome would have been the one to stab us in the back. Once I got back to Jayden, we could take out Attila and the others together without worry, then kill each other like true best friends.

It was late in the morning when Niko crashed the party. I took a solid second to think before I chased after him. I was tired and gross and really just wanted a hot pot of rehydrated coffee, but I was a Career. I had my duties. If I let Niko go in this Arena, it could take us days to find him again. I wanted a rest, but I wanted out more. So I spurred on my tired legs and gave chase.

Niko must have been somewhat tired, too, since he didn't run as fast as he might have. At full energy, he should have been able to give me the slip, but it was two weeks into the Games. No one was at full energy now. All the same, he was far ahead of me and I wasn't catching up. If he kept going, I'd poop out first. I was already starting to suck wind.

I didn't have my spear with me, but there were plenty of rocks on the ground. I picked one up and chucked it ahead of Niko and to the side. Niko jumped at the noise as it hit the greenery, and he stopped momentarily as he switched directions.

I had more than one trick in my bag. Last time, Jodie thought it was one, but really it was two. This time, Niko thought I had a partner to the side, but it was really just my rock. He lost his momentum when he stopped to switch directions, and I lessened the distance between us as he sped back up. As I got closer, I threw something a bit more substantial.

* * *

Niko Lafont, D8

Eren's axe hit me right in the back, knocking me flat on my stomach. It didn't go straight in, but lodged diagonally, with only a bit of blade actually through my flesh. I tried to pull myself to my knees, even though my back felt like it was on fire.

I could hear Eren charging through the forest behind me. Even in her waterlogged, exhausted state, she was catching up fast now that I wasn't moving. There wasn't any way out of this one.

I never would have dreamed I would be the last of our alliance. I certainly never would have imagined I'd be in the top Five. It was a good run for a screw-up from Eight. I knew most people would be trying to convince themselves it wasn't so bad in my position, but I really believed it. Unlike most people, I really never thought I'd win. I didn't have that secret hope that I was stringer than I was giving myself credit for. I knew what I was, and I was happy I made it so far.

People said death was lonely, but I looked forward to seeing my allies again. Eren ran up behind me and raised her axe for a final blow. There was nothing to be done about it, and I found I wasn't even afraid.

* * *

 **Y'all wanted Niko, Y'all got him. But seriously, I had noticed he wasn't getting much attention and would have given him a POV anyway. I just decided to kill him here because I have a loose schedule for the rest of the Games. It could change, but it hasn't so far.**

 **5th place: Niko Lafont- Axed by Eren**

 **There's usually one person who just kind of ends up the finals even though I didn't specifically plan for it. Niko's solitude, combined with the thick foliage of the Arena and how the Careers stuck together to avoid Attila, kept him around a long time. He was a great guy, in my opinion. He made mistakes, but he admitted them and regretted them, and no one's perfect. Thanks PrinceofCorinth for Niko, who grew and learned from his mistakes. No one starts out a hero. What makes a hero is trying to improve, and Niko did.**


	44. Checkmate

Tillo Peters

I would have pegged Cavender as lasting longer. She was no bodybuilder, but Niko was such a yes-man. I thought for sure he'd ally with the first Tribute who saw a sucker and get himself stabbed in the back. The only thing I was right about was thinking neither of them would win.

* * *

District Eight

Brian was heartbroken, and of course so were the Joneses. Brian said he'd never love again. We brushed him off as a mourning teen at first, but he said that wasn't it. He was just a one-woman man, and the woman was gone. Niko's friends began to mature and shy away from risky play. Seeing someone close to them die showed them how real it was.

* * *

Attila Attard

I didn't get it. Whatever Nassor was doing looked very impressive and very smart, but I didn't get it. It looked like a pile of shiny junk to me.

Nassor went after the things in the Cornucopia like a magpie in a jewelry shop. He picked out the pointy lighter we used for our fire and started gutting it, pulling two long copper wires out from the tip. I helped him find some batteries and he taped them to the side of the lighter, connecting them to the copper wires with more wire. Finally, he used yet another coil of wire to press them down into the lighter and hold them in place with a tiny barb he attached to the lighter trigger, so when he pressed the button it would all go off at once.

"Is that it?" I asked. It looked so small.

"That's it," he said. I had my throwing knives, he had his electrical gun thingy, and Eren had... a stick, maybe? More likely she'd been sponsored a weapon by now.

"If we're lucky, she'll come before sundown," Nassor said.

"Scared of the dark?" I teased.

"No, because of her," Nassor said, pointing to Jayden's body. "Eren won't know she's dead until the Anthem. Until then, she'll be trying to get back to camp. Unless she's already broken off, which is likely. Guess we'll find out."

It was quiet a long time after that. Nassor played around with the other things in the Cornucopia, and I mostly just waited. I watched the sun go down and it seemed like an omen. After tonight, whatever happened, we wouldn't be allies anymore. If I was lucky, Eren would kill Nassor and I'd kill her. If I was unlucky, we'd only kill her, and I'd have to do what came next. If I was really unlucky, I'd die in the battle. It wasn't just a day that was about to be over.

* * *

Eren Lindell

Out of habit, I slowed down when nearing the Cornucopia. Jayden was alone now, and she'd be extra nervous of Attila. She probably thought I was off wounded somewhere and wasn't expecting me. When I was close enough to see the Cornucopia, I gave our signal. I tossed a pebble at the metal horn, and it made a soft thunk. If invaders had taken our camp, they'd think it was nothing but a falling twig. If Jayden heard it, she'd give the countersignal by tossing three pebbles at the horn.

Three thunks never came. I tossed another pebble in case she'd missed it, but still nothing. That could have meant a lot of things. She might be out looking for me. She might have given me up for dead, smashed the supplies and left. She might be busy or resting. Or she might be dead.

The most dangerous possibility was that there were invaders. If there were, it was surely Attila. I picked up another rock- they'd turned out to be the most valuable weapon in the Games. I chucked it at a tree at the edge of the clearing, careful to make sure I tossed it so the trees would cover the motion. The rock hit the tree and shook it, and a second later, a knife shot into the bark.

We were compromised. Jayden was the cannon I thought was Jeanie or Nassor. Attila was in the Cornucopia, probably next to her propped-up body, waiting for me to go up to her and see why she was being so quiet.

Two could play at that game. I gathered up a handful of rocks and crept toward the Cornucopia. Attila was obviously on edge. He'd fired before even confirming I was there. As I walked toward the Cornucopia, I threw rocks over it, spreading them out so they landed in a trail in the forest, simulating the sound of someone walking. Attila would be inside the mouth of the Cornucopia on my side, looking out the other way and waiting for me to appear.

I wasn't going to, or at least I'd be the last thing he saw. I was almost at the side of the Cornucopia. I flattened myself against the wall and slid toward the mouth. I rounded the corner, saw my shocked target looking back at me, and attacked.

* * *

Attila Attard, D1

Eren came out of nowhere. She popped up in the mouth of the Cornucopia like a cat, mere feet away from me and her axe already up. She'd seen through our ruse somehow and made us look at one hand while the other did all the work. Her axe was already on the way down by the time I saw her. All I could do was shove my arm up and take the blade there instead of my head. The axe sank into my arm and Eren bore down, forcing me onto my back. Pain nearly blinded me as I looked up at her and thought of my next move, but I had an ace in the hole.

Nassor sprang out from behind a pile of discarded supplies, his taser already in his hand. Eren looked up at him and her weight on my arm slackened as she straightened to adjust her plan. I grabbed the top edge of the axe head to push it out of my arm. She'd drawn first blood, but we'd draw last.

My arm stiffened, and I lost all ability to control my body. The same happened to Jayden, who was stuck looking over my shoulder at something I couldn't see. Something like a forceful punch grabbed my entire body and shot through my insides. Jayden's hair fluffed up slightly, and she and I both started to shake.

It was only in my last seconds that I understood what had happened. If I could have moved my eyes, I would have seen the copper wires lying across Jayden's arm. Jayden's arm, which was attached to her other arm, which was bearing down on her axe, which was attached to me. Electricity goes as far as it can. I would have thought it was a mistake, but Nassor was smart. He saw his moment and took it, just like I was going to do with him.

I'd thought I didn't have a reason to fight after my father died. Then my reason had been that I didn't want to follow him. Neither of those came to fruition. All Careers know we all die someday. They tell us it's better to go young, before we're feeble and useless. The people who told me that were a lot older than I was.

* * *

Eren Lindell, D4

He had an ally. He had a dirty, rotten, backwoods hick outlier ally. Careers didn't do that. We stuck in the pack until we broke up like warriors and did it right. The dirty, rotten coward skipped out on the alliance and left us to do all the work while he pushed a farm boy from Nine around. Not only that, he couldn't even keep an outlier in line. Thanks to a rulebreaking scum and his two-timing ally, neither of us were going to live.

* * *

 **2nd place: Attila Attard- Electrocuted by Nassor**

 **I don't often get alliances like this. Usually I get friendly alliances or alliances with just one bad apple. Nassor and Attila was a rare but realistic alliance built entirely on practicality and the knowledge that it wouldn't last. This fight was a delicately balanced series of moves, countermoves, and strategies. Attila was smart to think Nassor would like his help until Eren. Nassor was smart to act even more scared than he really was. Eren was smart to discern their plan and twist it for her own ends. What Eren missed, and what got her killed, was not knowing Attila had an ally. What Attila missed, and got him killed, was a combination of the properties of electricity and the hidden confidence of Nassor. Attila was never brutal or mean, but he wasn't inexplicably soft either. He killed to live and was open to any strategy that would keep him alive. He underestimated Nassor just a bit, and one mistake was enough. Thanks YesmyLordCiel for Attila, who had a unique motivation and a quietly determined strategy.**

 **2nd place: Eren Lindell- Electrocuted by Nassor**

 **Eren started out as a dangerously near generic Four surfer, but she hardened up and got serious during the Games. She allied herself with the strongest pair of Tributes and got to work proving she was worth it. She survived a death roll and fought her way back to Jayden only to find she had to deal with an invader who had a trap waiting. Had it not been for Nassor, I expect she would have won that fight. It's not often that a Career teams up with an outlier, and it wasn't something she thought of. Thanks Loki for Eren. She escaped her stereotype and became a real fighter.**

 **I'll go ahead and write the finale. It would be awful to leave you all hanging. Here's hoping it turns out better than lots of people fear.**


	45. Revelations

**Oops, Attila and Eren should have both gotten third, because they died together.**

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

It could not have been a clearer message. I was one of the last two left, and the other was Nassor. It was cosmically perfect. I came into this wanting to follow the rules and be a good person. I told myself I wouldn't kill anyone. I did. I told myself I wouldn't kill an ally. I did. I told myself I would never, ever hunt another Tribute. I was. The one rule in the Hunger Games, the one rule everyone know, was you didn't kill your District partner. And here I was. There was only one rule left for me to break. I went from perfect good girl to complete villain.

 _You're overthinking again._ I couldn't dwell on that. There was no room for morality in the Games. All this pointless moralizing was going to do was get me killed. I couldn't fall apart. I couldn't choke this close to the finish. Winners write history. If I won, I'd be the girl that brought Victory to Nine and rained wealth on us all. They'd forget all about the things I did and remember only the blessings and pride. If I died, I was the villain who got what I deserved.

 _Just win._ I clutched my spear tighter as I hunted through the forest. It was a huge, dense Arena, but I knew we'd find each other. The Gamemakers got bored if there wasn't any killing. They'd drive us together soon enough. If they didn't, that meant we were already close.

I thought of Nassor and the places where I might find him. He was smart. Once the Careers were dead, he probably went to the Cornucopia to look for supplies. But then, he was smart enough to know I'd look for him there. He might have left long ago, or he might have left a trap. Or he might not be afraid of me and might be waiting there. I'd find out when I looked, and we'd both find out who should have been afraid of whom.

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

It wasn't raining anymore. I could actually see a bit of sun through tiny gaps in the trees. I didn't have much time to look, since I didn't have much time to carry out my plan if I was going to do it.

It was positively horrific. I couldn't bring myself to make Attila part of it. I was skirting the rules of the Games, which was saying something. I took out one of Attila's throwing knives and carved a deep cut down Eren's arm. She was dead, so I had to hold the arm in the air so gravity could pull the blood out. It trickled out slowly without the heart to pump it. I had to make half a dozen more stabs to get a substantial amount, and I retched as I did it.

When I was done, I looked about how I felt. I was covered in cold, sticky blood. It stank like a slaughterhouse. _But isn't that what this all is? It's a slaughterhouse._ I looked at the peeling, flaky blood on my arms and thought about what came next.

It was dusk when I ventured from the Cornucopia. I brought hardly anything with me. I'd destroyed some of the weapons, but Jeanie could have the other stuff. I didn't think it would be long before we met. The Gamemakers would see to that.

I walked until I hit the river. It seemed momentuously important, like everything in the Games had centered around it. Once I was there, I started tearing leaves off the nearby trees and ripping divots in the dirt. I kept going until the grass by the river looked like a hurricane had gone through. Then I started to scream.

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

Nassor was screaming. When I first heard the noise, I ran toward it. I stopped myself only minutes later. How could I be so stupid? It was probably a trap. He was playing the wounded gazelle, just waiting for me to rush in to finish him off so he could sucker-punch me. Instead, I approached slowly and stopped when it seemed like I'd see him if I went any closer. I could see trees shaking from the area of the screams, and I wondered if a mutt had attacked him. If that was the case, it could easily attack me, too, so I kept my distance.

 _I hope it is a mutt._ I squashed the next thought, which was an accusation about how I was actively wishing for a wild animal to tear someone apart. If it was a mutt, I didn't have to kill Nassor. I didn't have to kill him, and I didn't have to be the villain. I'd just be the one who lived.

The screaming went on for a long time. It tore me up wondering what really made me the villain. If I ran in and it was a trap and I died, I was nothing but the dead Tribute. If it wasn't a trap and Nassor was lying there painfully dying from dozens of ragged wounds, I was more a villain than ever. The trees weren't shaking anymore. If it was mutts, they'd done their part and left. That wasn't usually the way of mutts, but maybe he'd managed to drive them away. I waited, listening to the screams and begging them to stop.

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

She wasn't taking the bait. I was lying on my side by the river, screaming intermittently and adding moans for effect. I was careful to taper the screams and make them sound weaker as the hours went by. And it had been hours. Multiple hours in the same spot, the blood on me flaking off as it dried. I'd taken one of Attila's knives with me, half for a last resort and half for the memories, and I took one last drastic step in my plan. I dug the knife across my lower leg, adding fresh blood to my costume and risking fatal infection if the plan didn't work. She had to come eventually. She couldn't listen to this forever.

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

It was daybreak. Nassor had been there ten hours. No one could fake that long. And if he was, I'd be ready for him. I had my spear in front of me as I ventured closer to the faint and far apart moans. I pushed a branch in front of me, ready to retreat if Nassor hurled a weapon at the movement.

It turned my stomach to see it. Nassor was lying inside a circle of destruction. Branches were broken all around him, and clumps of grass were pulled up to reveal trenches of dirt. In the middle, Nassor lay on his side, facing me across a skinny and shallow portion of the river. He was absolutely covered in blood. Patches of hair were missing, and his clothes were torn. I couldn't imagine how he was still alive, and I couldn't imagine how I'd left him to suffer for so long.

 _It's not a sin to kill someone like that. He's dying. He's been dying ten hours. I would just be letting him go._ I was hesitant to feel hope or excitement again, but it could be the answer to everything. I could win this and still be a hero.

That didn't mean I had to rush in and do something stupid, though. It could still be a trap. I was on the cusp of victory, and I didn't want to lose it by acting rashly. If it was a trap, Nassor would be expecting me to cross the river and stab him up close. He'd be able to grab me and try to disarm me. I wanted to make it quick and easy for him. My wooden spear couldn't get through his skull, not with my strength. My best bet was to throw it at his chest. He'd already lost a ton of blood. It would be the quickest way. I stood across the river and threw.

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

Jeanie wound up to throw. I kept still as the spear sped toward me and landed in my chest. I coughed and kept my eyes on her with a pleading expression. I curled weakly around the spear and raised a hand an inch off the ground.

"Please," I pleaded. "It hurts."

Jeanie waited half a minute to make sure I made no sudden moves and didn't try to pull the weapon from my chest. She took a step forward to wade through the shallow river between us.

"Don't worry. It won't-" Jeanie said. I brought my arm forward and stuck the live taser into the water.

* * *

Jeanie Clay, D9

 _It won't hurt anymore._

That's what I would have said. I would have been wrong. It hurt a lot. My limbs locked and my teeth clenched together so tight I thought they would crack. Sparks danced on the water and one fell on my arm, searing it. My eyes were stuck on Nassor as I shook and trembled. One hand held the taser, and the other held the spear in his chest. He looked heartbroken, and I hated him for it.

 _No! Look happy! Be happy you killed me! You're the villain now. I was trying to help you and you murdered me. You're the one that killed your District partner. It wasn't me that broke that rule. I was being good. I was being the hero._

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

I knew I had to see it all the way through for this to work. I let Jeanie's spear come flying at me and didn't move. A wooden spear couldn't get through my ribs without a lucky shot, and I took the risk. I also took the risk that she still had compassion and would want to finish the job and not leave me to bleed out. I would have bled out eventually, but electricity was faster than a spear. Jeanie was dead in seconds, and I let go of the trigger when I heard the cannon. She fell into the shallow water, and it flowed peacefully over her, unaware of the meaning of the obstacle.

It was over, just like that. I was going home. The wound in my chest was oozing blood and I didn't dare stand, but I would live. The hovercraft already over us would haul me up and surgeons would patch me back together. I would go back home to Nine as their first Victor.

I wished it didn't feel so meaningless. I hadn't had a mentor to tell me what it was like, but the other Victors all seemed to know who they were and why they won. There was Silver Claws, who came for victory and tore it from everyone else's hands. There was Nubu the hero, who went into the fight only because someone needed to be stopped. There was a reason for them. They knew something about themselves. I only knew what I wasn't. I wasn't as smart as I thought I was. I wasn't as abandoned as I thought I was. And I wasn't dead.

* * *

 **Now that the finale is done, I can come clean about everything.**

 **2nd place: Jeanie Clay- Electrocuted by Nassor**

 **Time to reveal the secret. Jeanie was a decoy, almost from the start. I knew everyone would think she would win, since she was from Nine and generally seemed like a good pick. I kept her around so everyone would think I was making the obvious choice and leading up to it. With so much detailed development and interior monologue, it seemed painfully clear she was the Victor. She would have been a good Victor, too, but it was Nassor. She was a distraction for Nassor. Seems it worked somewhat, since a lot of people thought it was obviously her. In any case, Jeanie was great. She had a detailed backstory, a personality that stood on its own, and a solid character arc. In the complicated equations that help me pick a Victor, Nassor came out on top, but Jeanie deserved second place, and her placing helped me hide my intentions. Thanks TER for Jeanie. She sure lasted a lot longer than Hosanna, didn't she? You've been hoping for a Nine Victor for a long time, so I hope that's some consolation.**

 **Victor: Nassor Doyle, D9**

 **This has been a long con for me. I've been working to emphasize Nassor's fear of Attila and his certainty he will die, as well as his waning confidence in his intelligence. I've been working my hardest to make it seem like I was winding up to kill him, just so it would be a cooler surprise when he won. Seems I might have been somewhat successful, since I only saw one person guess Nassor would win. I _did_ want a Nine Victor, but I've wanted one for years. I didn't let it color my choice, and that's why there hasn't been one in, what, twelve SYOTs? I am pleased to be able to add Nassor, but that wasn't the main factor in my choice. I picked him for his intelligence, his adaptability, his lesson about humility, and the extremely beneficial alliance he had with Attila, who shielded him through much of the Games. As you can see, he's not done growing even now. Congratulations to CarlPoppaLOL, who has been with me for ages and finally made it big.**

 **There you have it. I hope it turned out better than expected, especially now that some secrets are out. I'll make a few wrap-up chapters and then we can start all over again!**


	46. Real World

Nassor Doyle

The first thing I noticed upon waking in the normal world was how much technology there was. I had spent the last near three weeks in a primal jungle, and it was nakedly apparent how artificial and contrived the entire Capitol was. The blankets I was under were machine-woven from synthetic fabrics. In all it took to make them, humans weren't involved in any step but the first. The harsh lights were brighter than the filtered sun I was used to, and the air was cool, its temperature controlled down to the degree.

When I looked in the mirror by my bed, something else artificial looked back at me. The Capitol, it seemed, had gone with the "exotic" angle. The islander features from ancestors so far back I knew nothing about them were reflected in the work they'd done on my face. My skin was a more striking shade of golden bronze, my almond eyes were more almond-shaped, and my stocky build was more muscular. I could still see me in the mirror's surface. I just looked like a Capitol version of me.

I had been putting off more stressful matters by taking in the world around me, but it couldn't work forever. I had to face the Games eventually, and in my damaged state, there was nothing else to do. I didn't know what I felt about the experience. I didn't even know what I _should_ have felt about the whole experience. Triumph, maybe. That was Rhoda must have felt. Guilt, maybe. That was most of them seemed to feel. More than anything else, I just felt relieved.

I hadn't thought it would happen. Some Victors, mostly Careers, went to the interviews and talked about how they always knew this was their destiny. I came into the Games thinking I was the smartest one there, but I came out wondering how on Earth I'd lasted that long. I'd been an arrogant, know-it-all jerk, and now I just felt like the one that wasn't dead. I'd always been an oddball in Nine, and now I was the oddball of the Games- the only one that wasn't dead.

Most of me was in good shape, since my time in the Arena had been lighter than for most Tributes. Attila had shielded me right until the end, and that was probably the single biggest factor in my Victory. I pulled up the blankets and looked at my stomach. There was a big pink patch where a spear-sized chunk of me had been missing. The skin was as smooth as if it had never happened. Smoother, even. I felt like a baby.

Rhoda was my first visitor, naturally. It was weirder seeing her now that we were both Victors. She'd been part of a different group before, so our differences didn't bother me. Now that I was part of her world, it made the differences between a Career and an outlier much starker. I wondered if she was mad at me for killing Attila, since he was from her District, and I didn't mention him as we talked.

"Surprised?" she asked.

"Yes," I said truthfully. "I guess I didn't think I would actually do it."

"Hope you're ready to talk to everyone in the world and never stop smiling, because you're in for a long day," she said.

She was right. The entire day was bizarre. It was so incongruous to go from the jungle to a palace that I forgot to be jumpy. It was so surreal it felt like a dream, and what happened in dreams didn't really hurt people. The only time I jumped was when Mint flipped on a spotlight to do my makeup. It seemed staggering to see light pouring out of a glass ball. I remembered such things before the Games, but they seemed as dreamlike as the present.

"You're on," a stagehand said as the interview was about to begin. "Are you ready?"

"I guess so," I said.

* * *

They picked a suit for my interview. Unsurprising, as always, but it was decorated with metal threads running through it, reminding everyone of how I'd won. The stage was drowning in light and mechanized decorations, and they stung my eyes with their brightness. I hoped it wouldn't take long. I'd had enough of exotic places and new things. I wanted to go home.

"After fourty-four years, it's finally happened. Everyone, meet Nassor Doyle, the first Victor of District Nine!" Caesar gestured wildly at me, and I waved timidly at the screaming crowd.

"How did you do it? How did you succeed where so many others failed?" Caesar asked.

"It was a lot of things, I think. A lot of it was that I had Attila with me a long time, and no one wanted to fight him. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to get to the Cornucopia and build anything. I was also lucky enough not to run across the Careers before we were ready," I said.

"Don't be so modest. Surely it had something to do with that big brain of yours," Caesar said.

"Maybe. There's lots of smart people in the world. I'm not so special," I said.

"But you are special. You're a Victor," Caesar said. "Let's see just how special you are," he added, in a segue to the replay.

Watching the replay was like deja vu. I remembered most of it and had been aware of much that I hadn't personally seen, but it seemed like something far away, like a word on the tip of your tongue. It was impossible to reconcile the flat images on the screen with my real experiences, and it was likely a blessing. I watched myself kill Attila, Eren, and Jeanie and hardly felt anything. Surely it would come to me later, and I didn't look forward to it.

When President Snow came, he seemed to glide along the path unnaturally, and I didn't pay any attention to what he said. He gave me a crowd, which rested heavily on my head. It was a silver thing with a clear vein around the center. When he lifted it, sparks shot through the vein, and they kept flashing as it lay on my head. I had the odd feeling that I would wake up soon, but it wouldn't be that easy. There was nothing to wake up from. This was life now.


	47. Homies

**Surprise! More chapters.**

* * *

Nassor Doyle, D9

Reality had set in by nightfall, when the Victors started tricking in. Rhoda was the first, of course, meaning I was perhaps the first outlier Victor to be greeted by a dozen Careers of varying levels of scariness before meeting anyone who won in a manner similar to myself.

"This is the part where we party," Rhoda said. "Or so I've heard. I didn't actually get a party."

"Yeah, she was top secret or something. Very hush-hush," Azure volunteered. "Hey, here comes the riff-raff."

"The riff-raff" was the Victors from Ten, Eleven and Twelve. As I was soon to find out, they tended to travel in packs, perhaps because of their Districts' similar cultures or perhaps because half of them weren't quite normal. I suspected I would soon become one of their group, since Nine was similary agrarian and I was similarly abnormal.

"Someday we're going to be too big to fit," Calvary said.

"We'll have to get a new room," Nubu said. He came over and offered his hand, which I shook. "It's nice to meet you. We're all glad to have you."

"Most of us," Careen said, but she smiled. "I'm just kidding. I'll be fine in a week."

More and more Victors streamed in, and we became an increasingly disparate bunch. I looked back and forth between a woman as tall and thin as a lightning rod and her friend, who was barely taller than a child. A seven-foot-tall man could barely fit in the room, and another woman hid behind a man holding the leash of a black poodle. I came to the realization that not any single one fit in, which meant, in the end, that they all did, and I was no different.

"So what do you want to do?" Hyden asked. I was distracted by all the faces, and it took me a minute to answer.

"Sorry, what?" I asked.

"Every time we get a new Victor, we do something together to show they're one of us," Rhoda said. "It's different every time, since every Victor is different."

"We played laser tag when I won," Estrella said.

"Estrella was the only one who came out of the Games and hadn't had enoug violence yet," Shale said, but she was smiling.

"It's just the way I am," Estrella shrugged.

"So what'll it be?" Jonah asked.

"I don't really know what I want to do," I said. "I kind of like just being here." I was sitting on a soft, plush couch far more luxurious than the damp ground of the jungle. I could have any food I wanted at the press of a button, and the climate was perfectly designed for comfort. I didn't want anything else.

"We don't have to go anywhere. We can just sit around and talk," Sky said. She and most of the others squeezed onto three of the couches in the lounge. The Careers commenced a couch-wrestling match for the remaining couch. Some of them simply sat on the ground, including Mars and two of the Ten Victors.

"Anything particular on your mind?" Rhoda asked from next to me on the couch.

"I have two questions," I said. In the time it took everyone to get settled, I gathered up the courage to ask. "First, why did you win? And second, what did you learn?"

Silver Claws was the first to answer. She raised two gleaming fingers. "One, it's right in my name, babe," she said. Then her smirk fell. "Second, that's it's all boring after that."

"I won by doing things I'm not proud of," Sky said. "But I learned that I can get past that."

I didn't expect Shane's answer. "I won by never underestimating the others, and I learned that fighting usually isn't worth it."

"I won by remembering the less glamorous skills. And I learned life's too short to spend doing something you don't like," Careen said.

"I won by mauling a girl to death on horseback. I learned that maybe that wasn't a nice thing to do," Calvary said.

"I'm not sure exactly how I won, but I learned I needed to live life right," Nubu said.

"How about you?" I asked Rhoda.

"I won by being the most patriotic. I learned patriotism is stupid," she said. "How about you?"

"I won because of Attila and because I'm good at making stuff. I don't know what I learned yet, but I learned a lot here," I said. It was the reason I'd asked them all in the first place. I still felt like the same person as ever, and I didn't know the extent of my new role and how things were going to change.

"We got plenty more wisdom to lay down," Azure said. "How about asking something really cool, like how many people we killed?"


	48. Epilogue

Nassor Doyle, D9

Most of the Districts on the Victory Tour went by in a blur. I read the speeches they gave me and didn't make trouble. I was tired of making trouble. I wanted a rest.

One was the first, of course, and it was one of the hardest. The people showed their disapproval in a way that belied the District's gaudy colors and exuberant atmosphere. They simply said nothing to me. The ones forced to attend my parties stayed, but they said nothing and acted as though I wasn't there. By Career standards, I was an unperson.

Four was the next one I had been worried about. Luckily, Four's long-running quiet rivalry with One and Two drowned me out. They had no special enthusiam for me, but they blamed Attila for Eren's death and treated me as just another Victor who wasn't from Four. It was also one of the loveliest Districts, and the ocean was everything I'd hoped it would be.

Coming home was what I wanted and dreaded more than anything else. I had no idea how they would greet me. I was a Victor, but I murdered my own District partner. I had never fit in well with them, and this made me more alien than ever. The only thing I knew I could depend on was my parents, and I pressed myself against the window when I saw my brothers clamoring at the station, waving at me even harder than I waved at them. They were the only ones on the path by the station. Behind them stood a thronging crowd of people so thick I thought everyone in Nine must be there. A line of Peacekeepers stood in front of them, stopping them from stampeding and crushing themselves against the train. It was utterly overwhelming, and I focused my energy on my family.

The train door wasn't fully open before Kubo and Arik darted over, pounding on the door and cheering. I squeezed out the half-open door and into their engulfing embrace.

"Nassor! You're back!" Kubo said.

"We knew you wouldn't die!" Arik said. He pointed at all the people. "You're a hero, bro! Look at all this!"

I'd been so focused on my brothers and the rest of my family, who was already wading over, that I hadn't noticed all the changes. The modest train station of Nine was completely decked out in ribbons, streamers, sparklers, and confetti. The people waved flags and bandannas, and their cheers were deafening. It was the most commotion I'd seen since the parade.

"For me?" I asked. _Of course it's for me,_ I thought, but it was still a surprise.

"For our _first Victor!_ In _forty-four years!"_ Arik said. "For the hero of Nine!"

"I mean like, I didn't win for them," I said. "I just didn't want to die."

"Too late, you're a hero," Kubo said. "You better get out there and look cool. They can't wait much longer." He nudged me toward the platform that had been set up in front of the crowd. It was surrounded by Peacekeepers so I didn't get mobbed. I took my place and waved at the people.

"Um... hello, everyone," I said. Their screams almost blasted me off the platform, and I leaned closer to the microphone so they could hear me,

"It's good to see you all. I'm very glad you're so happy," I said. I didn't know what to say about Jeanie. It was obvious they didn't care. Her family was probably home mourning her and cursing me. I couldn't bear the thought of everyone else doing the same. I took the coward's way out and said nothing about her.

I wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep, but there was a feast to attend and people to greet. The mayor of Nine gave me the key to the District for bravely not dying, and he yielded the podium so could make another speech.

"It's been very nice seeing you all. I'd like to go home now a rest a while. I'll be back... forever, I guess. I live here," I said. I hated how the microphone picked up every nuance of my usually hardly noticeable lisp and amplified it, but the people didn't seem to care. They also didn't seem eager to make a path for me to get home. The Capitol had seen this coming, though, as I discovered when half a dozen planes flew low overhead and dropped hundreds of parcels. The people ran wild in the streets gathering the loot, and six Peacekeepers escorted me to my aunt's house and stood guard.

"What you gonna do now?" Arik asked.

"I think I'm going to go lie down," I said.

* * *

A few days later, I was back on the same rooftop. I lived in the Victors Village now, but I snuck out all the same to the same ratty old building. I had the note my brothers had sent with me to the Capitol. In all the confusion and fear, I'd forgotten I even had it. Now that I was a Victor, I could finally read it.

 _Nassor,_

 _This is short, as we didn't expect you to go. No one did._

 _People used to snigger as you walked by and turn up their noses up at your strange habits. We don't care though, you are our brother and we just want you back home._

 _These Games will change you and you will do things you don't like but know that is not you. You will always be who you are._

 _Kubo and Arik_

The Games _had_ changed me. They changed me so much I didn't know _who_ I was anymore. I used to be a big-headed boy who thought he knew everything and the people around him were a bunch of bumpkins. Really, I knew I was just pretending I was better because I didn't want to think less of myself than I already did. For a while I was Attila's ally, and then I was his murderer. I was an inventor, a brother, a Tribute, a creative thinker, and more. I was someone who'd gone farther in the Games than anyone in Nine ever had and seen more of the country than anyone in my District. Somewhere, in all those pieces, was me. I finally could answer the question I had asked myself since I could remember. Nassor Doyle, the first victor of District 9. That is who I was.

* * *

 **Okay that's the end for real. I hope you all liked it, and I for one am glad I'm doing this next one the way I am. Naturally, I will be going right into the next Games and will probably put that up tomorrow. It's not going to be exactly normal, but it's not like the unconventional Games I've done before. For now, just one hint: you're gonna have to turn off your brains for this one.**


End file.
